Saturday afternoon, May 23rd, I received the following text
“Hi Dennis, I found your ring finder service on Facebook. This afternoon I was doing some gardening,in my yard, in Sanford, Maine and lost my ring in the brush next to my house and am unable to find it. I was wondering if you have any availability to come help locate it for me?
My name is Andrew by the way“
I called Andrew back, once I saw the text. Andrew told me that earlier that afternoon he had been pulling dead vegetation from two different above ground “box gardens.” He was then taking the pulled vegetation and throwing it into an overgrown area of thorn bushes, leaves, branches and other dead vegetation, just 20-30 feet from the gardens. At one point, while pulling the vegetation up, Andrew felt his gold wedding ring coming off his finger. Andrew slid the ring back onto his finger and got back to work. Not five minutes later, Andrew noticed his wedding ring was now missing from his finger. Since he had only been between the garden and pile of dead vegetation, just a few feet away, Andrew thought the ring would be in the pile of vegetation he had been throwing. After a visual search of that area, he couldn’t find his ring. Andrew the visually searched the path across his lawn, he had been walking, to and from the gardens and vegetation pile. Still no ring. He then looked around the box gardens but still couldn’t find his wedding ring. This is when he texted me and he also decided not to search any longer, in the fear he may actually move the ring, further into the vegetation or move it out of the area all together. Andrew then asked me if I could search the area, the next morning, Sunday. I agreed to meet him at his home in Sanford, Maine at 7:00am.
I arrived prompty at 7:00am and Andrew shoed me the very small area that the ring could be in. Andrew really thought his wedding ring would be up in the vegetation, leaves and thorn bushes. Since we were ext to the box gardens I ran my coils over them first. I received some targets but nothing in the gold range. Lots of beeps and chirps turned out to be mostly ferrous items and one non ferrour target, a modern penny. We then walked towards the vegetation pile and I searched the grass path along the way, but still no ring. I then started searching the leaves, vegetation, thorn bushes and still no ring. Andrew put on a parof heavy duty glove and started pulling the thorny vines out and I was moving dead vegetation and branches, out of the way. We did this for 15-20 minutes and still no success. I then expanded the search to his lawn, searching a much larger area than he had been in. The wedding ring was still missing. I knew it had to be here, but where? Andrew had only been in a 20-30 foot area. I went back to the box gardens and started searching them again but just some small chirping and no non ferrous targets at all. We then researched the leaves and expanded the area up towards the road. Could his ring have flown off his finger, that far? Andrew didn’t thing so bue we searched anyways, just to be safe. Again, no success. Where could that ring be. Even though I had searched the box gardens twice, my mind kept telling me that was the only logical place it could be. The garden box was maybe 12-14 inches deep and the ring gould be missed if it was that deep. Andrew said he wasn’t digging in the garden, just pulling the vegetation and then filling in the holes. So, I took my men’s gold test ring, dug a hole to the bottom of the box and placed the ring on the bottom. Once I covered the hole in I swung my coil over the area. The ring was not being found, by my detector. At a depth of up to 14 inches, it wasn’t being picked up but it was picking up other items, all ferrous.. I told Andrew we would need to remove the soil and scan it. Andrew retreived a large garbage bag and ripped it, so he could put the soil on it, Box Garden #1 was the one he was working on when he noticed his ring missing and he had been working on one specific corner. So, That is where he started shoveling. His first shovel full of soil, produced no targets, as did the second and third shovel full of soil. The forth shovel full was now at the bottom of the box and I received a very loud, repeatable low tone, reading 26-27, on my TID (Target ID). I couldn’t see the target but told Andrew that this just had to be his wedding ring, it just sounded so good. As I started brushing the soil away, I saw a very small color of silver, white gold? Yes, it was Andrews wedding ring. WOW!!! Andrew yelled out in excitment and I will admit, so did I. Over an hour and fifteen minutes in a very small area. The box garden was the only place that made sense to me, when I couldn’t find it in the brush or lawn. As I saw where the ring came from, I realized that the ring was not only in the box garden but it was up against the side wall. When I was swinging the coil, the coil would be stopped by the side wall and with the depth the ring was at, my coil couldn’t get completely over the ring. Possibly it was one of the chirps I had heard but I will never know. I don’t like giving up and removing the soil was the only way to be certain the ring was or was’t in the box garden.
Andrew couldn’t believe his ring was that deep. I suspect that when he pulled some of the vegetation, his ring fell down into the hole and he just filled the hole in, along the wall. Andrew immediately put his wedding ring back on and shook my hand, thanking me for finding his ring, where he didn’t think it would be. Andrew also told me that he would not be taking anymore chances and would be getting his wedding ring re-sized. A great idea. Another ring back on the finger and another smile on their face. We have the best job in the world and I love my job. Remember, “If it matters to you, it matters to us.”😀❤️🙏
