Gregg Larabel, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 10 of 16

On Monday August 10th Christy B. emailed me saying her husband Dave B. lost his wedding band while climbing the ladder on their water trampoline. She stated that the area was about 8-9 feet deep with a mucky bottom. Dave tried to find the ring with goggles but to no avail. The ring is a simple gold band with more sentimental value than actual value but would like to get it back.

Because it was going to require a dive I had to recruit my number one diver on the Ring Finders team, Chuck Raison. I called Christy and told her I would get my team together and come to help them out. A couple of days later Dave Boyer, Chuck and myself headed out for 150 miles to find the ring.

When we have a dive, the other non-divers searche the area leading out to the site in the shallows for a chance that the item might have been lost closer in or moved in the water. We also take advantage during the dive while the diver is down by cleaning any junk out of the water in the swimming area. It is amazing the glass, nails, cans, pull tabs and other trash you find in the lakes and rivers.

The first trip out the ring was not found. Chuck searched all around the area but the weeds and 6 inches of silt proved too much to find the ring. We talked to Christy and said we can come back after Labor Day and try again, so we all agreed to try again. Monday Sept 28 Christy made contact with me and I said we will be out on Wed Sept 30. It was just Chuck and myself this time and we packed up the Hookah and drove off to Fenton. The wind was blowing hard and the inland lake even had small whitecap waves. While Chuck did his thing I checked out the swimming area and found some more glass and junk but the more important find after about 30 minutes, was Chuck coming up to shore with a ring on his finger. He had found the ring with his Garrett underwater Pin Pointer. The ring was down in 6 inches of silt nestled next to the anchor bucket for the trampoline.

Christy’s husband Dave was out of town so we gave the ring to Christy and got our smile for the Book and we will get another pic when Dave comes home.

Another happy couple because of The Ring Finders. « We love our job »

Steve P. called me Monday Sept 14 and said he had discovered the Ring Finders lately and wondered if a ring could be found after 2 years in the ground. Steve explained to me that Jan, his wife, was working in the yard weeding the flower beds and working around the yard cleaning up. Jan was working without gloves and had her 18K gold ring on her pinky. While rolling up the garden hose she noticed the ring was missing. After looking all over the yard and through the weeds she had dug up and twigs that were picked up in the yard they gave up on the search. Now Steve is on the phone asking me to come out and see if the ring could be found. I told Steve I could make it out on Tuesday evening and decided to check out their yard on Bing Maps (I generally do this to get a lay of the land I will be searching). The yard was quite large so I called my Ring Finder friend Fred Johnson and another detectorist Denise M. We all met at their home and started the search. I arrived a few minutes early so after talking to Jan about the search I decided to detect the flowerbeds first as I had my 4 inch coil on my Fisher F75. When Fred and Denise got there I explained the situation and suggestion they start a grid search on the lawn while I finished the flowerbeds.

We were there probably less then 20 minutes when Fred got a good hit on his AT Pro and out popped the ring about an inch under the ground. A call to Steve and Jan brought them out to see a ring that had slipped off a finger over 2 years ago. Smiles and feelings of amazement came from them both. We took some pictures and went on our way. Steve promised to spread the word about The Ring Finders.

My Ring Finder partner, Dave Boyer and I always check Craigslist for possible ring finds and we came across a man, Peter S. who was camping with his family at a campground about 50 miles south of home. When he went out to the lake with his 2 boys they started jumping up and down and splashing around like young under 10 year old boys will do. They wanted dad to throw them up in the air so he did and off came his wedding ring in the process. His wife April S. marked the area on a map as to approximately where the ring went in. We emailed April and had her meet us to discuss how and when we would go search for the ring. Tuesday morning Dave and I traveled South to the lake and started our search. It took about 30 minutes in about waist deep water to get a good ring sound and there it was a beautiful men’s wedding band made of Black Hills gold.

We made arrangements with April to return the ring not telling her husband it was found. We came to the door and Peter answered I said « I’m Gregg and this is Dave » I opened a display case of rings that I have found in the past with his ring in the middle. I said « We are selling rings door to door from our metal detection collection » at that time Peter, with April standing behind him, he says « Hey there is my ring! » we all laughed and reintroduced ourselves and April fessed up that she wanted to surprise Peter. He could not believe that it was found and was a happy, happy man. After meeting his sons and taking a few pictures we said goodbye and got another entry for our « Book of Smiles ».

Rick Magyar a fellow Ring Finder called me the other day and asked for help finding a lost ring in the Grand River. What had happened is Cory V. had received a 14k gold wedding band from his grandfather who had passed away a week before. This ring was going to be used in Cory’s upcoming wedding. Cory and some friends where in the Grand River enjoying themselves on a hot summer day when just before getting out of the water he felt the ring slide off his finger. The river was about 2 to 3 feet deep with weeds and about 6 inches of mud. Rick had been out on a hunt previously and was  unable to locate the ring so he called on my help. When we arrived at the river we met Pam who’s house they were at when the ring was lost. We went down to the river and proceeded to search. While I went out about 4 feet from shore Rick was looking closer to shore than where he looked before. Rick got a hit and Dave B. verified the hit with his AT Pro, because of the muck Dave let Rick use his underwater pointer and after Rick grabbed a handful of muck the pointer continued beeping as he pulled it up to search. There it was mixed in with a handful of black mud gleaming slightly in the sunlight.

We took the ring up to Pam and she called Cory who lives out of town it turned out to be a happy day for all involved. We asked that Cory send us a close up picture holding his ring for our Book of Smiles. So watch for an update to this story in the next couple of weeks.

 Rick M on the left

Pam in the middle

Gregg L on the right

You have to keep an open mind when looking for a ring. Carl M. said he had his ring in the bottom of his kayak and forgot about it when he took the kayak out of the water. Carl called me while I was in Tennessee and I told him I could make it out there in a couple of days. Seeing that the ring was lost in a private swimming area I was not too concerned about someone else finding it. He said it was by the dock where he pull the kayak out. He figured it must have fallen out when it was turned over in about 3 feet of water and carried across the yard to the condo. After searching everywhere on the grass and in the kayak and not finding it he thought it’s time for the internet. Finding me on the Ring Finders the search began. I have built a team of detectorist my brother Doug, Dave Boyer (a soon to be Ring Finder in the Holland and South Haven market) and myself. Doug and Dave spent about an hour looking in the water which had large cement slabs with deep cracks and rocky bottom. Checked the lawn between the dock and condo and came up empty. Finding rings takes a lot of detective work and elimination. The water and grass was checked the only thing left was to look at the kayak one more time. The kayak was rolled over on it’s top and the ring fell out. Lessen learned, « always start from where the ring was last seen ».

« Before the sunset twice the ring will be found » that was my goal. The ring was lost Saturday afternoon the sun set and Sunday before the sun set again the ring was found. I got an email from Jennifer K. while at a family gathering 70 miles away from the Park. I called Jennifer right away and she said they were at the beach celebrating the future marriage of a friend. While laying on the beach she applied some sunblock then went down to the water, up to her waist, to cool off. She noticed her ring on her right hand was coming off and adjusted it then noticed her wedding ring was gone.

Fortunately for her a friend took a picture of all of them on their blankets. So that gave us, (Tom Townsend, Dave B. and myself), a reference as to where to look. Jennifer contacted both Tom Townsend and myself from the Ring Finders directory. I called up my detecting partner to meet me at the Park because I was 70 miles away. Before I got to the Park both Tom and Dave entered the water between the buoy reference that Jennifer had given us and checked up to waist deep water. When I arrived Tom was on a grid South of the referenced area and Dave started gridding North to South over the referenced area and I started my grid going East and West from the referenced area to the water. After I arrived it was about 30 minutes of gridding and Dave and I met almost at the same spot and there it was right where it was suspected of coming off.

After the ring was found, Dave went home and Tom and I entered the water to see if we could find some more rings. The first signal Tom got was a nice men’s Titanium wedding band.  The night ended as the sun set for the second time since the ring was lost and a call was made to Jennifer that her ring was found. We made arrangements for her to pick it up the next day when we will get a picture of her for our book of smiles.

Bryan S. called me Thursday and was looking for someone to help find his wedding ring that was lost while playing Nerf football on a sandbar at Walnut Lake. He explained that it was a private lake and that is where a lot of the boaters drop anchor and swim and play games. It is about 3 feet deep with an inch of silt and a clay base. He had marked the spot within a few feet of where the ring came off so it would be easier to locate. I told Bryan that I was going out of town Saturday but probably could get there in a week. He was concerned that the other boaters would disturb the area during the coming weekend. After rearranging my schedule and getting my brother Doug and my other detecting partner, Dave B. onboard to make the 2 1/2 hour trip across state, I texted Bryan and told him we will be there Friday morning at 11am.

Bryan was very pleased that we could make it as he had called another Ring Finder in Detroit but he didn’t have water equipment. Traci S., Bryan’s wife, thought the ring was a lost cause because they went out with a snorkel and hunted for several hours with no success.

Friday morning we packed our gear and headed East to Bloomfield Hills. When we arrived we met Bryan and showed us the private beach he docks his pontoon at and jumped aboard for the short trip across the beautiful picturesque lake that you only find in « Pure Michigan ». Bryan had marked the spot with a big log sticking up out of the water so we got into the waist deep clear water and in about 10 minutes we produced « juice! » and Bryans palladium wedding ring was back on his finger and we headed back to shore.

Because it only took a few minutes to find the ring Bryan invited us to detect some of the beach to see what we could find. We detected for 30 more minutes and gave the life guards the few coins we found and headed back to Grand Rapids, MI.

It’s funny Thursday night I opened a fortune cookie that we had left over from Chinese a couple of days before and it said « Something exciting was going to happen to you on Friday ». I guess it was finding the ring or maybe it was finally meeting Bannan Max the side car motor cycle riding boxer that I always see in passing but never met until today.

While reading on Facebook I saw a post with my name on it. A friend referred my services to a man who lost his wedding ring three weeks ago while cleaning his pool. I messaged Dawn K. the wife of Dan K. and offered to come out and help find his ring. Dawn K. sent a message back to tell me a neighbor had a detector and was going to try to find it and if he couldn’t she would message me back. They also wanted to check around the house at some places that it could be. A day later Dawn K. messaged me and said she would like me to come out and search for the ring.

My brother Doug and I arrived at the house and introduced ourselves to Dawn and then got down to work. The usual questions were asked what, where, when, how. I first checked the leaves in the trash that came of the pool cover and found them to be clean. Then walked around the house and Dawn showed me where she threw leaves in the woods from the pool cover and then checked leaf piles around the pool that were left over from the pool cleaning. After three weeks of resting under some leaves by the pool the ring gave us a signal and said « you found me! »

We walked around to the front of the house where Dan and Dawn were standing and presented the ring. Needless to say the smiles came out and Dan couldn’t believe we found it so soon or at all. Dan was talking to some customers who also were very impressed and showed them the ring. It was time to get a picture of the ring and of Dan and Dawn for our book of smiles.

« The day was cold and dark and dreary », I’ve always wanted to say these words from Longfellow’s poem, « Rainy Days » and today was fitting. Ray S. called me yesterday an said he lost his wedding band while taking out his garbage container. He had snow on his hands and when he shook them off his ring went flying off into the grass. Ray searched through the Oak leaf covered grass but could not find it. A friend had told him about THERINFINDERS so he looked us up and found one of my associates not home and then called me. I have made several trips to the East side of our state over the past 4 years. Ray told me the story and I told him I would be out the next morning, weather permitting. I started the 140 mile trip with wet streets and blowing snow but by the time I got to Ray’s house it was just dark and dreary. Getting my Fisher F75 out, I started a grid search using the area that Ray thought his ring should be. I started down the edge of the drive about 30 feet then back up and over 3 feet. After about 10 feet into my second leg I got a 56 on my detector scale and there it was, pushed down into the wet dirt, I pulled up his ring. Ray must have stepped on the ring while looking for it and the only way it would have been found is with a metal detector. Ray went into the house to show his wife, Alex, that he got his ring back. Alex ran out of the house and gave me a big hug and said thank you. It was a pleasure helping out Ray and Alex and brighten up that Dark and Dreary day.

Jeff called me last week to tell me his son Aaron, lost his 2015 Hopkins H.S. class ring while feeding the ducks at Heritage Park pond. When he was preparing to throw some bread his ring fell off into the water. The water is about 5 feet deep with about 2 feet of muck. I told Jeff that because of the depth and muck it would be impossible for me to wade into the water and use my detector, so I told him I would consider another method and get back to him. Several years ago I made a scoop from an old flat snow shovel and some 1/4 in fencing. It was designed to drag along the bottom of a lake and sift the sand for rings and things. My detecting partner came up with a 12 foot handle made out of PVC pipe to put on it.

Saturday we went out to Heritage Park and tried our scoop out. Going on information from Jeff, he said his son threw out some bread underhand about 5 feet and into the water. After scooping several feet in about a 12 x 10 foot area the scoop worked very well but we came up with nothing but weeds. The scoop worked as well as we thought it would. I called Jeff and told him we didn’t have any luck. A few minutes later I got a call from Jeff’s son telling me the ring bounced on the deck and then went in the water. That changed things and we went back today to search along the base of the deck and after about 5 scoops we came up with the ring. It is so important to get a good set of events leading up to the item being lost.

Aaron’s dad is going to surprise him on A’s birthday on Nov 10. Today happens to be my 70th birthday and I consider this to be a birthday gift, I love finding rings for people.