Lost ring while playing football, Springfield, Ill…..found and returned!
While visiting with good friends in Springfield, Illinois, I mentioned that I had my metal detector in the car and would be willing to look for anything they might have lost in their yard over the years. They remembered one special ring that was lost 15 years ago during a touch football game. Apparently the youth group from their church would come out and play games, have bonfires and spend the evening on the farm. Our friends kids always enjoyed playing games and their son, Kurt in particular, would set up a small area to play football. The youth group leaders would join the kids as they played and on that fateful day, Crista, felt her rings fly off of her hand as she went to catch the football. Everyone immediately stopped playing and they began searching for her two lost rings in the thick grass. Moments later one of the teens found her engagement ring but the small gold wedding ring was no where to be found. This particular ring was a family heirloom that was handed down to Crista from her grandmother. The lost ring was never found and they gave up hope of ever seeing it again. Over the years the ring slowly sank into the thick grass and damp soil but being made of gold, it never tarnished or corroded. Fifteen years later I was given the opportunity to search for this long lost ring. I set up 4 corner flags and started my grid search pattern. Being as the ring was rather thin, I figured I needed to dig every signal that sounded even close to what a small gold ring would sound like. Three hours later I dug a quiet repeatable signal and there in my pile of dirt I say the glint of gold! And sure enough it was Crista’s lost ring!
Many times lost rings remain very close to where they were originally lost. Maybe you know of a lost ring that was never found. Give me a call and we can discuss the possibilities of doing a search. Never hurts to ask!
Mike McInroe….always ready to help!
Last Friday Amanda called me from San Antonio, Texas with a very special request. She explained that her mother Liz, who lives in Port Orange, Florida had just lost a very expensive diamond earring! Two days earlier Mrs Liz had an invitation to eat lunch at a friends house and before heading out the door she decided to wear her beautiful earrings that were a gift to her from her husband Tom, 14 years ago. They had a wonderful time visiting their friend and after a delicious meal Mr. Tom and Mrs. Liz headed for home. Immediately after arriving home Mrs. Liz went to her bedroom to remove her special diamond earrings and to her dismay one of them was missing. And the search began! They looked everywhere and could not find it. And she decided to call her daughter Amanda in San Antonio for some advice. Amanda went right to work searching for some help for her distraught mother and after typing « Metal Detector Rental Orlando » into her phone she found theringfinders and one of my search and recovery stories. The call was made and the next day I met Amanda’s parents. Mr. Tom and Mrs. Liz said they had the other earring in a small plastic bag so I could get a reading with my metal detector, but unfortunately the bag got misplaced or thrown out that morning and we had a frantic 30 minute search—emptying garbage bags and crawling all over the house. Thankfully Mr. Tom finally found it in the thrown out newspaper bin!! Before heading to the neighbors house I searched the car, the garage and basically the whole house with my flashlight and then we headed to the friends house.
Wednesday night I received a call from Chris asking if I could possibly help him find his lost wedding ring! He went on to explain that he and his family had just flown into Orlando earlier that day and after they settled into their rooms they thought it was a perfect evening for a little game of catch the football! And then it all came to a sudden halt when Chris felt his ring come off of his finger. He and his family searched frantically for his ring but the St. Augustine grass had seemed to swallow it up.
While out searching the rough surf for a large gold necklace, I was getting tired and thirsty and decided to take a short break. As I sat there relaxing and enjoying the beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean, a man approached me and explained his dilemma. Two weeks earlier, Teddy had been walking on the beach and towards the end of his walk he noticed a bunch of garbage in an area of the soft sand and decided he would do the noble thing and pick up the trash and deposit it where it belonged…..in the garbage can! Earlier in his walk, he had been fiddling with his ring and for some « unknown » reason he slipped the ring onto his pinkie finger, where it was a tad loose.
Brett called me Sunday evening and asked if I was still helping people find their lost rings. That is usually a dead give away that they or someone close to them, needs help! Brett went on to explain that earlier that day he and his family were on the beach enjoying the sun. sand and surf and while playing catch with a football he felt his ring slip off of his finger. He was only in ankle deep water and he thought he would be able to retrieve it but try as he might, he could not find his lost ring. He said he was really bummed out and he slowly gave up hope of ever seeing his lost wedding ring again.
Elizabeth wrote « My husband and I were snorkeling in a crystal clear spring, when my husband decided to swim down deep to check out a small cave looking space. While he was coming back up to get air, he pushed off a rock and his wedding ring slipped right off his finger. Panic mode took full force! After several hours of searching for the ring, we thought the ring was gone forever. And by the time you swam to the bottom (at least 15 feet) you had only seconds to search due to the limited air. The ring meant allot to us and it was very hard to accept the fact that it was gone.
Sunday evening Morgan was on her back porch and threw a ball out the door and into the yard for her dog to fetch. But not all dogs have learned the fine art of fetch and retrieve. As is the case with Morgan’s dog! So Morgan and her young son ran out to help demonstrate the skill of fetching a ball when thrown. They played with the dog for awhile in the yard and then retreated inside to the cool air conditioning. An hour or so passed before Morgan noticed that her diamond engagement ring and her wedding ring were not on her finger, where she has worn them for the last 7 years! A bit of panic set in and she began thinking of where they could be and remembered throwing the ball for her dog and being as she throws with her left hand, it made sense that her rings could very easily have slipped off at that time. And sure enough there in the yard, close to where the ball had landed, she found her diamond engagement ring in the grass. So she continued looking for her wedding ring but could not seem to find it. As she contemplated what to do next, Morgan thought about buying or renting a metal detector and decided to purchase a cheap detector at the local sporting goods store. On her way to the store she remembered seeing theringfinders.com web site and thought of giving me a call to see if I could help her. I assured Morgan that there was a very good chance of finding her lost wedding ring and we made arrangements to meet the next day. It was interesting that Morgan thought she had not thrown the ball very hard, maybe 10 to 15 feet, as the ball only landed a short distance from the back door and her diamond engagement ring was found very close. So I searched high and low, in the bushes, under the bushes and rechecked all signals carefully to be sure a large deep signal was not masking her ring…but I could not find it! An hour passed and Morgan’s husband came out to see how I was progressing and he offered to trim two sago palms that were at least 30 feet from the back door. It was an excellent idea, because there at the base of the first prickly sago plant, down in the leaves was Morgan’s beautiful lost wedding ring! It was a tear jerking moment for all of us when we showed Morgan her ring and even her little son kept saying, « Mommy is crying! » And we all assured him those were tears of JOY! Lost your ring? Call, text or e-mail ASAP! Mike McInroe…proud to be a member of The Ring Finders!
I received a frantic call from a dear young lady named Ellie and by the tone and stress in her voice it was apparent she was upset and flustered. For the life of me I could not understand what she was saying and she soon hung up. One minute later, Will called me and explained the situation. Will’s girlfriend’s sister, Kelly had lost her engagement ring in the sand at Daytona Beach and they had spent allot of time searching for the ring with no success. So I dropped what I was doing and told Will I would be there within the hour.
Mr. Rod wrote, « My name is Rod. I, after bathing my dog in the yard, discovered that my wedding band was missing. Having been married for 43 years, I was very disappointed to lose it and I searched frantically with the help of about 10 friends for 6 days without success.
I received a call from Mr. Robin inquiring information about « Underwater Metal Detecting ». You see, he runs a unique day camp for kids during the summer months and has a number of young adults that help work with the little ones doing all sorts of outdoor activities. In January of 2018, one of the young adult men, named Frankie, was on the dock, horsing around with some of his friends, when he decided to dive into the chilly water. And yes, the lakes are fairly cold during the winter months here in Central Florida, at least to us thin blooded Floridians! Well, Frankie dove in a couple of times and after his 3rd dive, as he was coming up the ladder he noticed his gold chain and cross were not around his neck! This chain and cross was a gift from his grandmother and he just had to find it and get it back around his neck. He and the others dove numerous times hoping to find it, but each time they came up with only weeds and clam shells. Later on they even had someone with scuba gear try and locate it but soon they realized they needed someone with a metal detector. Thankfully I was able to get my scuba certification and I agreed to try and find Frankie’s lost chain and cross.