Ring found and returned at Mission Beach
I was running errands all day, so, I didn’t get the e-mail cry for help right away. When I finally realized it, I e-mailed back to say that I was available. After an exchange of information, I met Charles at the beach location that evening. He had been out playing football two days prior with other family members when…….well, we know the results of that! His wedding ring of 40 years came off somewhere during their romp in the dry sand. Initially, the search area was fairly good size, but, not ridiculous. Maybe half the size of a standard football field or a little less. After hitting some « hot spots » where Charles remembered being tackled in the sand and having no luck, I started a complete grid of the area. After 15-20 minutes I had found virtually no targets except a few minor pieces of foil and other junk targets. Not even one coin. Hmmm…..maybe the area had been detected by someone else in the last two days and had already been found? I soldiered on and finally did find a couple of coins, and then, wow, a ring. Oops, not HIS ring. Oh well, not a bad looking ring, and not a bad sign either. At least that area hadn’t been detected extensively. I completed the whole designated search area and nothing more but a few coins. Darn, well, time to expend the search area. I made a few more passes at the north end with no luck. Charles told me he hadn’t gone that far north, was resigned to the fact that it wasn’t going to be found, thanked me, and left for the night. I told him I’d hunt a bit longer and crossgrid the same area to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. I then went to the southern end of the search area and extended that a ways too. Still nothing. I then started my crossgrid and found absolutely no additional targets…..until……on one of my passes at the southern end, I was looping around to come back north, when I hit THE signal. Finally! It was getting dark and the search area was now about the size of a whole football field! A call to Charles resulted in voice mail, so, I left a message, sent an e-mail, and cooled my heels a while until he contacted me. I detected back south toward my truck, the bathrooms, and showers when Charles returned my call. He and his son then walked down to meet me and pick up his ring. A pleasure meeting you both and thank you for the generous reward. It helps keep the service going. Have a safe trip home today.
The other day my good friend Chris texted me about a lost ring in a small lake in the Heathrow area. In casual conversation a neighbor mentioned to Chris that she had lost her precious silver ring while feeding bread to the fish. It happened just after Christmas and Tina could not get her mind off of loosing the very ring her brother had given her just a few years ago. After hearing her story Chris told her « I know just the guy to help you get your ring back! » So the following day—Valentines Day–I made arrangements to meet Tina and have her show me where she lost her ring. The original information I received was that the ring was lost only a few days ago so when I arrived and got set up–I concentrated my search efforts in the water from the shore out to about three feet deep. After a thorough search in the water and coming up empty handed I called Tina to come out and explain to me again what all happened the day she lost her ring. Come to find out she actually lost it a few days after Christmas, so that turned out to be 6 weeks ago and we have had very little rain and the water level had dropped a good two feet or so since then. I realized just where she would have been standing and the drop zone area would be up the bank further. And sure enough after a few sweeps of my coil over the dry ground–there was Tina’s lost ring just under a thin layer of dirt and mud! Tina could not believe I had found her lost ring and was thrilled to get it back on her finger!
Amy was visiting the grave site where her precious little one–Jean Francis Butterfly Butler– was laid to rest. It was a rather warm January day and the rings on Amy’s ring finger were feeling tight so she removed them and slid them into her pocket-along with the keys to her van. It was a quiet and peaceful time, sitting there by her little one’s grave site, as Amy reflected on the many things she had to be thankful for. Soon it was time to pick up her 7 year old daughter from school, so she folded up her lawn chair and headed to the van, pulling out the keys from her pocket as made her way across the short grassy area. As she slid into the drivers seat she remembered her rings and reached into her pocket and discovered–NO RINGS! Frantically she retraced her steps to where she was sitting and after a thorough search she was able to find her wedding band, but no diamond engagement ring. She walked back and for over the small area–but could not find her precious ring.
Can you imagine it’s your wedding day and everything is ready?! The chairs are all set up, the guests have arrived and the ceremony begins. It’s the perfect day to be outdoors, in the gazebo, on the lake. And partway through the ceremony the bride’s sister-in-law is holding the rings in a small box and just to make sure they are ready, she opens the box and somehow the brides ring drops to the deck and bounces off into the 9 foot deep water! Stunned and in shock, she cannot believe what just happened. After the ceremony the sister-in-law actually jumped into the cold water hoping to be able to retrieve the ring, but with all the weeds and soft muddy bottom, plus being 9 feet deep—it was hopeless!
and that lead her to theringfinders.com web site. She contacted me and we made arrangements to meet at the park. I tried to reassure Tanae that I would do my best to find her lost ring. I loaded up my van with my wetsuit, Tesoro Tiger Shark metal detector, scoop, towels and other gear and headed to the park. Thankfully it was a very warm, sunny day and even though the water was cold I was prepared to get wet. I arrived at the park and checked out the dock and water as I waited for Tanae. Not knowing which end of the small dock to search under I decided to check the depth with my pvc pole and realized that the bottom dropped off very quickly.