October 4, 2022
Hurricane Ian had been making its way northward keeping the Hyannis sky dark and misty. But a daily walk through the woods Avery and Bigelow made their way peacefully until an exposed root tripped up Avery. In the incident a ring left Avery’s finger an landed in the overgrowth along the pathway. The ring was Avery’s mother’s and is only one of very few pieces of jewelry that Avery wears.
Looking for help via a rental business that rented a detector. A call to J&E Enterprise was answered and Avery was given a phone number and was told Rick is the one that could help. Unfortunately, I was at a doctor’s appointment and did not return the call for a couple of hours. In that time Avery had rented a detector and was back in the woods searching for the lost ring. Rentals usually do not come with detailed operation notes. Most detectors take several hours of practice before one can become proficient in its use. Even locating an object on the surface can be a daunting task.
When I returned the call, Avery was in the woods and said she would welcome any help I may give. About a half hour later I was involved in the search. The area was littered with very old and rusty cans, and other debris. Many trash signals and not one that was worth digging or keeping. After two hours we left the woods as the sun had set, it was time to give up for the evening.
The next morning, I replace my mid-sized detector coil with a small 4-inch coil that would allow better separation of the pieces of trash. Another hour past and I was re-searching over the original area Avery had heard a signal the night before. I was able to determine several distinct targets, all were too deep to be the ring but might be masking a small ring. Therefore, I started to remove each target one by one and had a total of 4 shotgun cases and a long rifle casing. But no ring. As another aid, I tossed a similar ring with a visible string attached to see just how far a ring might travel and then restarted searching from that point.
Oddly enough, I was very close to the area the four shotgun shells were dug. Ah, another signal this time about two inches away, with a detector indicating a surface target. I reached down, moved a few leaves and there the ring was laying, but not for long. I picked it up, turned off the detector and headed back to the car before the rain intensified. A call to Avery and we made a meeting point. Twenty minutes later her ring had been placed on the pinkie finger and there was a wonderful smile on Avery’s face, not to say the one on my face was any less wonderful.
It is always amazing how an object is lost and in the case of a lost ring in the woods that a person can travel miles, search a vast area full of trash, put a 4-inch coil over a 1-inch ring, hear a signal among all others, then make a conscious decision to stop detecting and do a visual search to ultimately find the ring. Knowing one’s equipment, persistence and determination and yes, luck all helped in making the loss into A Happy Ending.
