On January 18, 2021, I received a text from Hallie Anderson asking if I could assist in searching for her husband Kyle’s ring. Kyle lost his ring on January 18 while feeding the geese at the lake behind his house with his daughter. As they were throwing bread to the geese Kyle’s ring slung off his hand and fell to the water below. He was in disbelief at what he had just witnessed as his ring  plummeted to the shallow depths close to shore. That’s what led to the search for someone who could help, as Hallie searched she came across The RingFinders web site. When I got the text due to my schedule as a firefighter, I told Hallie I could come out on January 20. When I arrived it was later in the afternoon and the temps were in the lower 50’s, we had freezing temperature in the week before and I knew the water would be cold. I got into my waders and tried to brave the cold water to see if  see if I could find the ring quickly. After about forty-five minutes to an hour I had to come out of the water due to the bone chilling cold. I asked if I could come back and look again because the temps were going to get higher in the coming days. A few days pasted  and the temps got warm. As anybody knows Alabama has two different severe weather seasons and this was one of them. The events of January 25 delayed me getting back to the search as a devastating tornado hit  an area  close to where I live. I spent time the night of the storm assisting the ravaged community, helping with  the search  for survivors. After the storm the temps bottomed out with highs in the upper 30’s and lower 40’s for the next week and a half. Finally I was able make it back to Hoover to look for the elusive ring in the murky water almost 3 weeks after Kyle lost his ring. I arrived at the Anderson’s on February 12 and came better prepared for my time in the water. After speaking to Kyle and Hallie I gathered my detector and changed my coil and stepped back into my waders. The water was not as bad as it seemed because the temperature had risen into the upper 60’s  and there a full bight sunny sky overhead. After searching about 10 minutes I heard and tone in my headphones and saw the target I.D. I was looking for. I dipped my scoop in the waist high water and up came a bight shinny gold ring. Like always it is a great feeling to be able to return a lost ring to someone and see the big smiles and learn what it means to the people who lost it.

I received a call from Caleb Dick on May 11, 2020 to see if I could come out to search his backyard for his wife’s lost antique wedding ring. Caleb explained that his wife Ashten lost it about 3 weeks ago, he didn’t know who to turn to, so he rented a detector and tried for hours to find the ring. He said not knowing how to use it, what to listen for, he knew there had to be a better and easier way to find the ring.  So he searched the Internet and stumbled on the ring finders website and called.  I was at the fire station and asked if the afternoon of May 12^th would be ok to come out and search. He said that would be ok and I got the address and explained the services I provide. He pointed out the importance of Ashten’s wedding ring how it was passed down to her from her late grandmother. They were very close and Caleb said that Ashten had been worried about the ring since she lost it throwing a toy to the family dog off the deck into the backyard.

The backyard is steep and treacherous with unstable footing; the hill is between 30 to 40 degrees on a down hill angle. Very difficult to detect and I had to come up with a game plan. During the search I had to move some bushes and tall weeds along with a few briar bushes. The ground was just as described, steep; a lot of weeds and of course some Poison Ivey. After searching with my AT Pro for almost an hour and a half and finding nothing but iron signals (nails) and aluminum, I decided it was time for a change. I changed my coil from the NEL coil to the smaller Sniper Coil for the At Pro. After a water break and changing of the coils I was back at it. Within about 5 minutes I was able to find the ring after swinging over an area that had so many signals earlier it would drive you crazy. There it was covered in dirt but still had a bright shine to it in the fading sun light. I picked up the ring and gathered my detector and pin pointer and headed up to see Ashten. I knocked on the door, when she opened the door I held up the ring and Ashten had the biggest smile on her face and was very happy. It is always a great feeling to be able to return a lost ring to someone and to see the big smiles and learning what it means to the people who lost it.

I was contacted March 8 2019 by Karen. She came in from out of town on family business and had the unfortunate event of losing her college ring and her late fathers wedding ring wile in town helping her brother. I asked her a few questions about the rings and she gave me a generalized area of where they might have fallen off. I was able to make it out there on March 10, spoke with Karen and her brother Tom. She showed me the places where the rings could have fallen off while she was working in the yard. The area was from covered leaves and vines to waist high bushes in many different spots. Also she showed me the areas in and around a few flower beds where they could have fallen off, so I thanked her for the information and began my hunt for the rings. After about 3 hours I  had searched all the areas with no luck of finding the rings. I spoke with Karen again and she wasn’t sure if the rings even made the trip, but something in her head told her that she had them on while working outside in the yard. She thanked me and I was on my way. She was leaving to go back home to  the Washington D.C. area the next morning.

I received a text from Karen on the evening of March 17 that her bother happen upon her college ring in part of the yard that I didn’t search because she wasn’t sure about that area. She asked if I could come back by and research the area where her bother found her college ring, she said that her brother marked the area around where he found the ring.  I was able to make it out to the location and search for the ring again on March 19 and met with her brother. Tom showed me the area where the college ring was found.  I retrieved my detectors and began to search, within about 3 minutes I was able to located her late father’s ring about 3 feet from where her college ring was recovered by her brother. I went to the door after recovering the ring to ask Tom if this was the ring that Karen had lost. Tom
had the biggest smile on his face and said « Yes ». Gave me a firm hand shake and said « You just made Karen’s day. » It is always a great feeling to be able to return a lost ring and see the big smiles and what it means to the people who lost it.