Gregg Larabel, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 8 of 16

Mike S. called me late Sunday evening asking if I could find a diamond ring in about 5 feet of water that His wife, Beth, accidentally dropped off her finger while untangling the tubing ropes. She was holding the ring on her finger for a family friend, Megan P, who didn’t want to loose it while tubing. Dave Boyer, my Ring Finder partner, drove 40 miles North to Hess lake Monday morning and met Patrice P. who showed us the area that she thought the ring was lost. Patrice had been riding in the boat as the kids were tubing so she was sure about the area. Dave and I searched the lake in a triangle shaped area about half the size of a football field. The lake had zero visibility at the bottom because of the silt that was knocked around as we swung or detectors. There were dozens of hits but after 4 hours we gave up the search and said we would come back. I called Mike and asked him if he could meet us at the cottage the next day and reenact what had taken place. Mike agreed and said he would cook up some hot dogs and hamburgers for us.  We got up to the cottage and added another Ring Finder, Fred Johnson (Fred was going to be our ringer). It was around 4 PM so we got into the water and started our search. Mike backed the boat out and showed us how things went and that gave us a different perspective of an area that we had not searched. After an hour we still had nothing to show for our efforts so I started to search an area that we looked at yesterday and got a pretty good hit but was searching in a large hole that was dug the day before. I dug about three large scoops and checked in my scoop after clearing away decayed wood chips and a glob of sand, there it was. Mike was sitting on the dock and Dave and Fred was still searching and I started walking towards the dock and asked Mike if we could have those hot dogs and hamburgers (like I was giving up). Mike said « sure let me fire up the grill » and then I said is this the ring?  Mike was so happy he couldn’t believe it, he immediately got on his phone and said « they found it »!

Mike started up the grill, the food and conversation was great and stories were exchanged and pictures taken. I am happy for Megan, she got her ring back and happy for Beth to be relieved of such an unfortunate accident. Have a great Labor Day everyone!

Fred Johnson,  a Ring Finder, got an email today at 3PM from Eric R., « last night my wife lost her rings while swimming…somewhere in 4-8 feet of water off our dock…possible area of perhaps 1000 square feet…only 3-5′ visibility at present…sand and silt bottom…is this something doable for you or is the depth an issue ». When it comes to ring finding we have few issues and dept of water is one but we have a fellow Ring Finder, Chuck Raison, who is our diver and who we can call on. Fred gave me a call and asked if I was available to help him find these rings. I called my brother Doug and headed down to Gull lake to meet Fred at Eric’s house.

After Eric had taken us out to the dock and showed us a buoy that his wife, Martha, swam around and then back to the dock. She was swimming back stroke to avoid their dog, Lucy, who was swimming in the lake too. When Martha got up to the ladder on the dock she noticed her rings were gone. The rings were an engagement ring, white gold with diamonds and a ten year anniversary ring, white gold with diamonds.

It was a beautiful afternoon to go out in the water so we started from the shore and made our way out to neck deep water with no signals. I got my life vest on and extended my detector shaft as long as it would go and checked out the deeper water around the buoy. Had I got a good signal we would have called in Chuck R. to dive for it. I made my way back to shallower water where I could just stand up in and got a good signal with my CZ21 and tried to scoop it but was unsuccessful so Fred got his Pin pointer and mask and went down under my coil and scooped up a handful of mud and the engagement ring came up sparkling in the water. I continued to search for another signal as I was sure it wasn’t too far away. After a few more dives by Fred and a good scoop we got the anniversary ring. This was truly a combination effort between Fred and myself.

A little before we got the good signal Martha came out on the dock and thanked us for coming out. Then we started back to the dock and told Martha it was pretty deep and we might have to get our diver. As I got on the dock I reached into my net with my finds and Martha saw something shining and started yelling and could hardly control herself. I said is this it? Fred then reached out his hand with the other ring and Martha hugged Fred, Doug and I as wet as we were, she couldn’t believe we found them. Martha said a prayer last night to Saint Anthony patron saint of lost items.

Eric and Martha’s daughter turned them on to The Ring Finders through Googling « lost ring ». Thank you webmaster for putting us on the top of the « lost rings » site.

 

My detecting partner Dave Boyer was contacted today by email at 5:30 PM from Adam N. He dropped his wedding ring while playing catch in the surf at South Haven, Michigan near the south pier. He said he was in ankle deep water when he caught a pass and the ring fell off. The ring is gold with 3 diamonds in it. On the inside of the ring is his grandparents initials (WEG and E_P). The ring was given to Adam after they passed away and he felt awful that it slipped off his finger. Adam and Diana are from Fort Wayne, IN and was going back soon so time was of the essence.

Dave got a hold of me right away and at 6:30 PM we started the 55 minute drive to the beach. We met Adam at the parking lot  and after introductions we got our equipment out and proceeded down to the water. The weather was cloudy and a storm had come through the previous night and morning. The water was cool and the waves were from 1 to 2 feet making it a little harder to stand up and swing the detector. Dave went ankle to knee deep and I started a grid from shore to waist deep then I turned to go back to shore, at waist deep, and got a good hit which I was sure it was the ring. With the waves it was difficult to make a good scoop but after the third scoop I looked in it and there was gold. I told Adam to reach in and check to see if that was his and his face lit up like the blazing setting sun. His wife Diana was walking down the beach towards us and when she got to us Adam said « they found it!!! ». « Big Boys Don’t Cry » but he could have, he was so relieved that he didn’t have to tell his mom that he had lost grampa’s wedding band.

Diana said, « Grampa was looking down and guided us to the ring ». Diana and Adam shook hands with us and hugged each other and then mugged for our Book of Smiles.

Dave and I have made a doubles team worthy of the Ring Finders Hall of Fame. We love our job.

Dana C. emailed me the other day asking me if I could help find her nieces husbands wedding band. I immediately returned her email and the process was in the works.

Cody A. was visiting his wife, Nicole’s, aunt and uncle Dana and Mike C. They live in a condo that has a small rock lined lake behind their home that they kayak, paddle board and swim. While everyone was out in the water Cody decided to remove his wedding ring and put it on a chain that he was wearing so he wouldn’t loose it. Murphy’s Law, he lost it!! Cody was standing in about chest deep water and the ring went straight down to the bottom in about an inch of silt. He immediately was put in the dog house and the only way to get out of it was to contact The Ring Finders of which they knew nothing about. Fortunately for Cody the neighbor heard of TRF and told Dana to look us up.

So here it is the following weekend and my partner Dave Boyer and myself are at their condo. After introductions were made we got out our equipment and in about 5 minutes in chest deep water a beautiful white gold ring with 3 diamonds was recovered. Mike was flabbergasted that we found it and so quick. The neighbor came out and was equally impressed.

Because Cody works and lives in Indianapolis, IN he was not available for a picture in our book of smiles so we got a smiling Mike to show the  ring. Cody will send us a picture when he receives the ring. Oh, by the way Cody is no longer in the Dog House.

I received an email from Noor M. July 6 to see if I could help her after she asked another Ringfinder to help her find a white gold band and a yellow gold band in about 2 to 4 feet of water. Because his water detector was in for service he was unable to effectively us his land detector from a kayak.

Noor was celebrating the fourth with hundreds of other boaters on a sandbar in Cass Lake. This is and area about twice the size of 2 football fields. While standing in the water she gave a High 5 to another celebrator and off came her rings. Noor immediately looked at the shore to get a point of reference as to where they were lost. There was about 19 people in her party and everyone started looking for them but just clouded up the bottom to no avail. I called Noor and said I could come out Thursday and help her out. She would be at work but her dad could take us by boat out to the sandbar.

My brother Doug and I arrived after the 144 mile trip and met Noor’s father Alla. We jumped on the pontoon and traveled a short distance to the sandbar. Doug and I got our scoops and water detectors into the water and I gave her dad my pin pointer. He started diving in the shallow water pulling up beer caps just like we were. There is a saying among water detectors that « when you find 100 caps and pull tabs you will find one ring ». The picture says it all. Noor gave us an approximate area where she remembered where the rings came off but wasn’t exactly sure. We covered at least a football field size area for about 3 hours. The water was warm, the sun was hot and the conditions couldn’t be better. After 3 hours+ of hunting, Doug made his final pass and jumped on the pontoon and I needed to make one more line based on Noor’s recollections. I got a signal like the 100 ones before but this time a shiny white gold band appeared. I searched the area more and about 3 feet away the yellow gold band appeared in my scoop. I yelled out to Dad and Doug then headed back to the boat. I feel I was guided by God’s hand as this was a needle in a haystack search.

It didn’t end there however. I texted Noor and I got back an « OMG ». She immediately left work to come home. We got back to the dock and we met Noor’s mom and she said I have lunch almost ready. Wow! It was delicious I have never had this meal before. She made white steamed rice and an eggplant dish with colored peppers, onions, jalapeno peppers, spices and more. After hugs where made and pictures were taken we jumped in the car for the 144 mile trek back home. I want to say that Noor’s father is one of the nicest men I have ever met. He is soft spoken and has a real story to tell. He is surrounded by 5 women who manage to keep him humble.

Thursday June 30 2:00pm, on my message machine: « This is John J. and I lost my wedding band at Oval beach and the Park ranger gave me your number ».

Thursday June 30 10:00pm, I listen to my messages. Feeling heart broke that I didn’t get this message sooner I called John right away. John explained to me that he was playing catch with his young son while John was standing in the sand and his son in the water. John felt the ring slip off his finger but didn’t see it land . He remembered not seeing any ripples in the water so he assumed it fell into the soft sand by the water. After searching to no avail he mentioned it to the ranger and the call was made. The water that day was very calm but a storm was brewing that evening, this is why I was heartbroken, had I answered his call when it came in I could have searched right away.

Friday morning 10:00am, we made plans to meet at the spot the ring was lost. There John and his young family sat with their coats and a blankets wrapped around them as the storm came in and made the weather very cool. The waves were 4 to 6 feet high and the place where John was standing the day before was now under 2 feet of water. I did a grid search of a small area where their blankets were the day before but I knew the ring was now under churning waves. They had to leave that day and go back home to Illinois so I told them I would be back tomorrow when the lake calms down.

Saturday morning 10:00am, my brother Doug and I went down to the water and in the area where the ring should be the water now receded and the sand was wet from the waves rushing to shore. About 10 inches down I recovered John’s platinum wedding band. Inside the ring was inscribed « All our dreams and wishes ». I called John and said « your dreams have come true ». I made arrangements to send it to him and the smiling John is proof that he has it with him again. I love this Job, thank you Chris Turner for making it possible.

 

Got a call from Sarah C. today asking if I could help her find her ring. She and boyfriend Scott A. were at the park, while playing around with her ring it popped out of her hand and into the sand. They frantically searched to no avail and told the Park Ranger about the loss and was referred to me. After a call to me and me eating my Fourth of July steak dinner, I  proceeded to drive the 45 minutes to North Park.

I met Sarah and Scott  at the park and proceeded to search the area with my Fisher F75 after the second 10 foot grid search I found her ring. It was a pretty silver ring with a heart shaped pink stone, a promise ring to a future for Sarah, Allan and a baby on the way.

Happy Fourth of July to all and one Sarah and Scott will always remember.

 

Got a call from my Ring Finder partner Dave Boyer about a lost ring in Lawton, Michigan. After getting the information I called Dakota M. to get the facts and see if he had found his ring yet. He told me he had not found it yet so I made arrangements to go down state to search. Dakota explained that he had gotten married recently and was setting on his porch talking to a friend on the phone and fiddling with this new item on his finger and before he knew it, it flew off his finger and he heard it bounce and then down through the slats of the porch. This is an older home that he had recently purchased and the old porch had the boards that had wider spaces between the floor boards and around the porch there was lattice work covering a crawl space. Dakota got a wrench and took off a section of the lattice and crawled under the porch. He gathered a bunch of leaves and dirt where he thought the ring should be but couldn’t find it.  That night he googled lost ring and found a site and posted his lost ring.

I called my brother Doug, because Dave B. wasn’t available, and asked him if he wanted to go look for a ring and he said yes. So Tuesday evening we headed South to Dakota’s house. We arrived a little before Dakota as he was coming from work. Dakota showed us the porch and area where he thought the ring fell through, he took off the lattice and into the crawl space Doug and I went in on hands and knees. Dusty, dirty, nails, leaves and broken glass everywhere. after getting to the middle we found the ring. It is a black titanium ring that was so big my detector whined as opposed to beeping.

Dakota hit the trifecta tonight by making his new wife happy by getting his ring back, cutting the grass and making diner. It was a pleasure meeting Dakota and finding his ring.

I got a call from my fellow ring finder, Dave Boyer, who had family commitments and needed my help finding a ring. Cam B. has been vacationing at South Haven beach with his family. Cam and his wife Megan B. is vacationing with Megan’s mom Marcia from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and brother and sister in law. Cam is originally from Cheyenne, Wyoming and they now live in Arizona.  The beach and water is an uncommon site to them and while enjoying the Pure Michigan weather, Cam thought he should walk his ring back up to the cottage just off the beach. On the way back doing a slight jog he felt his wedding band fly off. He immediately mark the area after looking around in the soft blonde sand with no luck. Cam went back to the cottage and called a detector shop and the Ring Finders was recommended to him. After looking through the directory he found Dave Boyer. I got Cam’s number from Dave and gave him a call. One hour later I was down to the cottage and set up my detector and started a grid search. Cam’s young nephew, Avery, escorted me along the way he was rewarded with a dime from my first hit and a pop tab on my second hit and my third hit Cam got the reward of his beautiful silver wedding band. The family cheered and the ring was back on cam’s finger. Some people have a LIFE but my LIFE is finding rings. I want to give a shout out to the ring finders web master for getting us posted at the top of the lost ring sites.

While camping out at the Grand Haven State Park, Abby H. was setting around the campfire enjoying an evening with friends when she lost her ring. Grand Haven beach is one of Pure Michigan’s crown jewels. Abby was given the ring at the top of a Ferris wheel by her boyfriend. It is in the shape of a sphere that has no end just as there relationship has no end. Abby’s boyfriends family all have an exact tattoo with a shape of the ring. So the story goes on that it has a special meaning to her. She contacted the ranger station and they gave her the number for Tom Townsend (a RingFinder) but he was unable to help her out today and Tom referred her to me. It was around 1:30PM when I got the call and Abby needed to work at 5:30PM. I was about 45 minutes away and she had already checked out of the campsite. I got there around 2:30pm and met Abby and got my F75 detector out. No sooner than I got the detector on, ground balanced and Abby pointing out the area that I got a beautiful signal with the first sweep. Abby and her friend Lauren were ecstatic that her ring was found. The camper next to them was impressed too that it went so quick and my success. Thank you Tom Townsend again for the referral.