On Friday October 4th, 2024! Cheryl and I were on our way, to Franconia Notch State Park, in the White Mountains, of New Hampshire. We intended to hike the Artists Bluff Trail Loop, on Bald Mountain . On our way we stopped to see the Parsonsfield – Porter Covered Bridge, in Parsonsfield, Maine. While visiting the bridge, my phone rang at 8:28am. The caller identified himself as Tim and Tim had lost his Wedding Ring, 3 days earlier, on the job, in Biddeford, Maine.
Now, Tim is the owner operator of a local Landscaping business, T.A.P. Lawn & Landscape, out of Saco, Maine. On Tuesday, as he was dumping mowed grass and raked up leaves, just inside a wooded area, Tim saw his ring slip off his finger and into the pile of leaves and grass clippings. Tim told me that in the last 3 days he and his wife were really anxious, to get his ring back. Tim had spent 1 1/2 hours, on his hands and knees, going through the pile, with absolutely no luck. Tim also rented a metal detector and even though he had one target, he still couldn’t find the object, in all the leaves and grass clippings. Tim then knew he needed help and a friend of his recommended me.
I then told Tim that I should be home, in Saco, at approximately 5:00pm and I could search , at that time. Tim said that would work because he had clients to tend to and he could meet me there, after 5:00pm. I told Tim, I would call him , when I arrived home and we could meet up then. Since the ring was lost on private property, there was no concern that someone would find the ring.
Tim and I ended up meeting, at 5:30pm, at his client’s property and we immediately walked to the pile of leaves and grass clippings. The pile wasn’t very large and my first thought, to myself was that this lost ring, should be found and fairly quickly. Tim pointed out the location, on the pile, that he had seen his wedding ring fall into. You could actually see where he had been searching, in the pile.
I walked back to my vehicle and grabbed my Minelab Manticore, with the 15 inch coil. I also grabbed my Garrett Handheld Pinpointer, which I just knew would be invaluable, in this search. As always, I asked Tim what the metal content of his wedding ring is. He answered that the ring was a Tungsten Carbide ring. I then took a Tungsten Carbide ring out of my bag of test rings and threw it on the ground. I then proceeded to run the coil of my metal detector, over the Tungsten Ring, so Tim could see and hear the Tungsten Ring being detected. My clients seem to like knowing what the sound/tone, of their ring, will sound like. Once I finished showing Tim, how the detector works, I immediately started searching the pile of leaves and grass clippings. Within a minute or so, I received a signal and it was an extremely low conductor, of a target. An extremely low tone and the reading, on my VDI screen, was a 07/08. Being such a low conductor, I didn’t think this would be a tungsten ring. Once I located the target, in the leaves, with my pinpointer, I ended up pulling a used packet of ketchup, out of the pile. I immediately started searching again, It took another minute or so, before I received another non ferrous target. This time the target was nice and loud and was reading on the VDI screen was 55. I told Tim that this very could be his Tungsten Wedding Ring. I located the target, once again with my pinpointer and slowly removed a few leaves from atop the target. Still couldn’t see the target. Removed some more leaves and still couldn’t see the target. Pinpointer still locked in on it and I didn’t want to move the target, further down, into the pile and that is why, I was being so careful, removing the leaves. A third time, removing some leaves, proved to be the winner. I could see just a small area of the ring and Tim could see it also. He was just overjoyed and couldn’t wait to get the ring back, on his finger, where it belongs. Tim texted his wife, told her the good news and she was also overjoyed, with Tim relaying her thank you , to me. Tim said he was going to sleep well tonight and that he also learned a lesson and will no longer wear his wedding ring, while performing his landscaping services m to his clients.
Another smile, or three and I just love being able to help people like Tim, in their time of need.
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