I received the following text message on Thursday, March 12th
“Hi, I need your help!!! She lost her temper and tossed her engagement ring out the car window but was parked, she went back today to look some and took this picture .” A photo accompanying the text, showed an intersection of two roads, along with this text, “I took a picture from where I parked, and I tossed it towards that side of the road on the corner of Friar Tuck”
I replied asking about the city or town’s location where this happened and also to whom was I communicating with.
The reply was “Friar Tuck road in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Mike and Terrie”
I replied that I was concerned anyone could have seen it, in either road, just out walking or running. Their response was that Terrie had already gone back, this morning and didn’t see it. Terrie thought it was somewhere, in the snowbank.
We kept texting back and forth, to verify the exact location, as I know how to get to Wolfeboro Bay NH, but I am not familiar with all the roads. Google earth showed me that Friar Tuck Road was just a very large loop. There were two entrances for Friar Tuck, about a quarter to half a mile away from each other, both exiting onto King’s Highway (RT 153). You could drive in one entrance and come out the other end. I didn’t want to drive an hour and 20 minutes or so and end up in the wrong location. Both Terrie and Mike were working and couldn’t meet me, until after work. It was now approximately 1:45pm and if I could leave by 2:00pm, I could arrive just after 3:00pm and start searching. I was a very, very small area and shouldn’t take long. Once all 3 of us agreed that I had the correct location, Cheryl and I took off for Wolfeboro.
Once we arrived, I matched the location with the photo, sent to me by Terrie and Mike. I then took the same photo and sent it to them. They replied I had the correct location. Perfect. I immediately started searching the snowbank, along Friar Tuck Road and around the corner and onto King’s Highway. Nothing was found. I then climbed the snowbank and searched the other side of the snowbank, still nothing. Could Terrie have thrown the ring over all the snow and into the brush and wooded area? I didn’t think so, as she was sitting in her vehicle, on the opposite side of the road, while sitting at the stop sign. So, I searched the snowbank once again, on both sides. Still no ring. I went up into the wooded area and performed a grid search, along the entire area, even expanding the area, just to be safe. Still no ring. The bushes and overgrown thorned bramble was my next victim or was I going to be the victim of the thorns. I put my smallest coil on my detector, for this area. I may be able to get the smaller coil deeper into the horned bushes. After approximately 30 minutes of carefully prodding the bushes, still no ring and I survived with only a few pricks of the thorns. At this point, I decided to start all over again and went back out to the snowbank and searched once again, even expanding the search up Friar Tuck Road and down Kings Highway. Still no ring. I went back up into the woods and bramble and once again, no ring. I was now thinking the ring ended up, deep in the bushes and there is no way to get a metal detector in there because the bushes were extremely thick. They would need to be cut down and I certainly wasn’t going to cut down anything that wasn’t on my property. I texted Mike and sent him a photo, of the bushes and he agreed that he wasn’t going to cut them down either. Mike told me he was on his way and would be there around 5:00pm. I told him I would wait and I searched one last time, still no luck. While searching, a woman walked by with her dog and I asked her if she walks this area often and that I was searching for a lost ring. She told me that she walks her dog multiple times per day, on this route and hadn’t seen a ring. She also told me that many residents of Friar Tuck Road walk their dogs, around the Friar Tuck Loop and that more residents walk the look for their daily walk. Wow, could someone have found Terrie’s engagement Ring already? It was now 4:40pm and Mike would be here shortly.
Once Mike arrived, I showed him the area and detected the snowbank, a fifth time and still no ring. I even put a test ring, in the snowbank and showed him the detector picks it up every single time. Terrie’s ring just wasn’t in the snow bank. Mike then texted Terrie with the news and a photo of the areas I had searched. Terrie replied that the snowbanks didn’t look as big, as she remembered. She then told Mike that maybe she had been at the other end of Friar Tuck Road. So, Cheryl, myself and Mike drove down Friar Tuck Road Loop a a few minutes later, arrived at the other end of Friar Tuck and Kings Highway. The first thing I noticed was that the snow banks were higher, so let’s go. Mike was performing a visual search of the road and snowbank. I was metal detecting the snow bank along Friar Tuck and the around the corner of Kings Highway. No Ring was found. I climbed over the snowbank and stated searching that side of the snowbank. Nothing found, as I made my way to the corner of Friar Tuck Road. Mike was still visually searching maybe 30 feet up Friar Tuck Road. I made it to the corner, swinging the coil and as with every search, I was also searching the area, with my Twin Optical Scanners. As I approached the telephone line, I finally heard the tone, I had been waiting for. A very loud low tone, that got my attention and I quickly glanced at the VDI Screen. It was showing 18-19. A low conductive number and right in the gold and platinum range. I looked down at the top of the snowbank and there it was. An engagement ring, Terrie’s ring. I looked over at Mike and said, “I got it”. Mike said something I couldn’t quite make out but I could certainly make out the very large smile, on his face, as he hurried over. I had left the ring alone, so Mike could see it, for himself. He thanked me, shook my hand and after a video and a few photo’s were taken, Mike picked the ring up and thanked me again, for staying to search both areas and for sorry it had taken so long, because of the mixup, on locations. Hey, it happens and this is why I prefer the client be there and show me the exact area, they had been in. Unfortunately, it just can’t happen the way we would like. Anyways, the ring was recovered and returned, after just a 5 minute search, at the correct location. Cheryl, Mike and myself had great big smiles on our faces, another ring would soon be back on the finger. I love my job. It’s the best job in the world.
Once home, in Saco, Maine, Mike sent me a final text
“Dennis, thank you again and am sorry about the 1st spot and almost didnt even bother trying the second spot but so glad we did. Once she said something about the banks were higher I had a feeling.” Not the first time I have been given a wrong location and I’m sure it won’t be the last time.
Because of the ring being lost, in the manner it was lost, Mike asked me not to use their real names or use any photos of himself. I always will honor the wishes of my client and will not use any photos or their real names. I don’t judge people and neither should you. People throwing rings, happen all the time. Much more often than you would think. Mike did tell me that Terrie regretted throwing the engagement ring, as soon as she threw it. Hopefully tempers have cooled and the ring will stay on her finger, where it belongs.
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