Gregg Larabel, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 9 of 16

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.

Matthew B. called me last night to see if I could find his wedding band that he lost while climbing on the sand dunes while vacationing in Grand Haven. He was enjoying the dunes with his wife Kristin and their young nephew. While climbing up on one of the paths Mathew had to use his hands to pull himself up on the soft sand. When he stood up to look over Lake Michigan he noticed that his ring was missing. After backtracking and an unsuccessful search, Matthew decided to search Google for metal detecting services. Matthew came across The Ring Finders. He contacted Tom Towsend who was not available but Tom referred him to me (Thank you Tom for the referral) and I said I could meet him the next morning. I contacted my Ring Finder partner, Dave Boyer, and off we went. We were there for about 20 minutes. I went up one path and Dave went up another path and at the top of the dune where Matthew had put his hands to lift himself up, the ring was found. Kristin had decided that if we couldn’t find the ring she was going to throw her ring away on the dunes and they would go buy another matching set. We are happy that the ring was found and Kristin didn’t have to throw hers away. As a footnote to this story, this is where I met my wife 55 years ago to this day. 

Scott W. sent me an email Sunday night inquiring about my services helping him find his wedding ring. I got back to him right away and made arrangements to meet him at the Lansing Sailing Club Tuesday morning.

Scott was spreading grass seed and straw over an area about 50′ by 50′. It was very muddy and had some standing water. Some time while spreading the grass seed and keeping an eye on his 4 year old child, his ring came off. Scott didn’t notice it until he got home. He went back to the club and looked for it but gave up and went on the internet and found The Ring Finders.

Tuesday morning Dave B. and myself introduced ourselves to Scott and set up our equipment.  I started a grid going East and West and Dave went North and South. There was an electronic dog fence running parallel to the property and giving me a lot of static on my F75 but I knew I was looking for a white gold ring on or just under the surface that would give me a good signal over the static. At about the 4th  sweep I got a hit just under the straw and there it was Scott’s ring.

Scott was happy and he were happy to have a successful hunt. We took some pictures and had a nice conversation and then headed back to Grand Rapids for the hour ride.

A friend of mine, Stephanie F., messaged me on Facebook that a friend of hers lost a ring in her yard 1 year ago. After giving me her name and number to me I gave Nora a call. The next day Dave B. and myself made a quick trip over to her house. After the introductions and meeting her dogs and getting the story as to how she lost the ring we started the search.

Nora said that last year Nora in a fit of anger threw the white gold diamond ring off her deck. Nora is about 5’5″ with a small frame but must have an arm like a pitcher. She threw the ring about 50 feet off the deck. She said she threw it towards the tree in her yard but I found it 20 feet beyond the tree and about 20 feet to the right of the tree. I guess when your mad you don’t know how far and what direction you throw things.

Nora and her husband made up and like the story goes lived happily ever after.

I got a Facebook message from a friend who told me about a woman who lost her white gold engagement ring and my friend would have her call me to see if I could help her find it. I answered her message and about a week later Jon V. called me and said his fiancé, Lisa H., lost her ring while brushing snow off her car. After clearing the snow she shook her hands off and into the snow went the ring. They went to Walmart and bought a Bounty Hunter Tracker IV and searched for it but couldn’t find it so he gave me a call.

They live in a mobile home park and have a double car parking space so the search would not be a big area. My brother Doug came along and it was around 6PM and we quickly lost daylight so not finding it then we decided to come back around noon the next day. Doug started on the grassy area which was snow covered and I started by the street at the edge of the drive which had some ice and snow. In about 1 minute and a couple feet of searching I got a great signal on my Fisher F75 and there it was.

I called Jon at work and told him I would be over later that night to give him the ring. Lisa would get home later and give me a picture of her holding the ring for our Book of Smiles.

Another happy couple who will be married in November.

I feel like the postman today, neither rain, sleet or snow will stop me from finding a lost ring. Andrew D. called me last week when the temperature in Michigan was a balmy 60 degrees. Andrew and his family live in a rural area of mid Michigan on a very old farm. He said he lost his platinum wedding band in his yard while walking from his barn to the house.  It was about a 20 square foot area but after hours of searching he couldn’t find it. I emailed Andrew back an said I could make it out on Thursday when it was still nice out and easier to search. After a couple days Andrew suggested he would be home on Friday December 18 so I said okay. Friday was the coldest and snowiest day this year, on the 100 mile journey to his house we started out through snow flurries and then arriving was cold and light snow. My hunting partner Dave Boyer and I got out our detectors and set up a grid. We thought we would do something different, thinking that the ring must be close to the surface and maybe stepped on when Andrew was searching, we gave Andrew our pin pointer. When we got a hit we had Andrew search with the pointer, this way he would be the one to recover the ring. Sure enough after about 10 minutes Andrew dug up the ring from a hit that we got. He was very happy with our service. After some conversation and photos, we headed home. From the photo above you can see that the flurries turn to ice on the roads and 3 hours later at sometimes a dead stop to 5 mph we made it home. As Chris T. always says « I love my job ».

I received a call from Sean T. Sunday evening asking me for help in finding his lost wedding ring. Late Saturday evening Sean was emptying out his cat litter box in has back yard. He walked in the dark from the back of his shed to the middle of the yard and felt his ring fall off his finger. He immediately put down the litter box and came in the house to have Jenna T. help him find the ring. The grass was 6 to 8 inches tall and they only had a flashlight and scissors. They started clipping the grass and throwing it in a pile but could not find the ring. Sean searched the internet for a metal detector and found the Ring Finders.

Sean and I worked out a plan for me and my fellow Ring Finder, Dave Boyer, to come out to his house and find his ring. On Tuesday afternoon we arrived at their house and after some introductions we started a grid search in the area where the grass was cut with no positive results. We then started from the back of the shed forward, still no results. I then set a grid pattern several feet from where the grass was cut and deep in a clump of grass I got a great signal on my Fisher F75 and there it was. Sean Is a little camera shy so I said I only want to share his smile with everyone who will read the story. Another wonderful  day in the world of ring finding.

Sean and Terra own a little store in the heart of Williamston, Michigan called Michigan Market and sell Specialty Foods and Unique Gifts made in Michigan.

I was called by Chuck M. yesterday to find his wedding band that he lost while setting plants in his yard. Chuck and his wife Sharmon live on an 80 acre farm in a small village of Lennon, Michigan just north of Swartz Creek, MI.

While doing the planting Chuck noticed his ring missing after planting 2 small bushes and taking some dug up sod and dirt across the yard and throwing it in a ditch. Chuck and Sharmon looked for the ring with no results, frustrated, they went to their computer and found The Ring Finders and gave me a call. I generally have my Ring Finder friend Dave Boyer go with me on hunts as I go with him on his calls. We make a pretty good team with a high percentage of finds.

We arrived at the farm and introduced ourselves to the Chuck and Sharmon and after they pointed out the area they were working in we got to work. Dave turned on his AT Pro and went to the first bush and up popped a penny. He tossed it to Sharmon and we all thought it was the ring which got a big laugh. A moment later my Fisher F75 gave me a hit and there was Chuck’s titanium wedding band. The total search lasted about 2 minutes. Smiles lasted longer than the hunt and another happy couple goes into the Book of Smiles.

It was our pleasure meeting this nice couple today and finding his lost ring.