Gregg Larabel, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 13 of 16

Three weeks ago Christina and her Marine husband Mike were running their dog in the shallow water at Pinconning County  Park about a mile from their home. Whenever they go down to the water with their dog Mike gives Christina his 14K white gold wedding band with 10 diamonds for safe keeping. Christina put it on her finger and forgot about it when she picked up a clump of dirt from the bottom of the lake and threw it for her dog to chase after. Off comes the ring and on goes the computer to search for a ring finder. Being that it was a 2 hour drive I had to make arrangements to visit them the following day. My detecting friend Dave B. and I talked to Christina and she explained where and how she threw the ring, so we set up a grid in the area which was the size of a basketball court. Once into the water we found that you could walk out hundreds of feet and get no deeper than about 3 feet. The problem was that the deeper you got the silt and clay got mushier. When we got a signal and dug we came up with silt and a big clump of clay to add to the problem when we swept the coil the water turned gray from the silt and clay.

After about a three hour search we told Christina and Mike that we could not find it but because Mike had just got out of the Marines and they were both going to school and looking for a job we wanted to help them. They paid me gas money and I told them that we would be back but the next time it was on my dime.

Last Monday, 2 weeks later, we again set up a grid starting from the deepest part where we were told the ring should be and then searching towards shore. We started at 11 am and slowly worked our way to the shore and at about 5 pm 10 feet from shore I got the hit I was looking for and yelled out to Dave “I found it”.

We went to Cristina and Mikes house and presented the ring to a very happy couple. Another long but fruitful day for thringfinders.

   “remember a ring is not always where the person THINKS it was lost”

Three weeks ago Ryan C. called me after finding my name as a ring finder on line. His wife Shannon had lost her diamond wedding ring while enjoying an afternoon of boating on Half Moon Lake. They had anchored their boat at a popular party spot on the lake and while standing waste deep in the water she accidently dropped her ring in the lake. The water was clear but the bottom contained a layer of silt from the clay underneath it. They said they would meet us in a designated spot and we could follow them to the lake. We went to the public beach where they picked us up after getting their boat and then going to the spot where the ring was lost.

Shannon showed us about where the ring went off her finger and we, search buddy Dave B. and I proceeded to look for the ring. Every step and swipe of our detector we would kick up the silt and sink over our shoes in the clay. We did a grid search to no avail. After about three hours I told Ryan and Shannon that I was sorry that we couldn’t find the ring but would come back on my dime to look again. Our drive time from my house to the lake is about two hours.

Today Dave B., myself and another friend Chuck R. drove to the side of the lake that we could get to without a boat and start searching for the ring. Little did we know that we had to walk through a forest for a quarter of a mile with our equipment twice. The first time a gentleman walking his dog showed us the trail and walk with us to the right spot. We thanked him and walked back to the car to get our equipment. Did I mention poison ivy? We brought with us some grid markers and proceeded to search, going from the shallow to deeper. It was in the waste deep area where Ryan’s boat was parked the last time that Dave B. came up with a gleaming diamond. After high fiving each other I walked to shore and texted Ryan with a picture of the ring and said “Is this it?”. He happily replied, “yes”. I told him we would meet him at the beach and presented him the ring.

Ryan did not tell Shannon right away that we found the ring and wanted to have their two year old son present it to her, “she freaked”. So now the full moon smiles are bright over Half Moon Lake once again. The pictures say it all.

While staying for the weekend in Gaylord, MI for my grandsons baseball tournament I got a call from Mark D. who was staying in Leland, MI on vacation from Washington DC. He was at the beach on Monday and while wiping sun screen off his hands his wedding band catapulted off his finger into the sand. After looking for hours he went back to where he was staying and started searching on line for someone to find his ring. On Friday he came across THERINGFINDERS and gave me a call. It was about 4pm Friday evening when I got the call and told him it was a coincidence that I was in Northern Michigan and could get there in about an hour and a half, so off I went.

When I reached his address on Manitou Trail I followed him to the beach. I got my Bounty Hunter Time Ranger out and walked the short path to the beach. At 6pm there where still a lot  of people on the beach and right where we wanted to hunt they were making a fire to roast marshmallows. I joking told them they would have to move as there was a ring buried under their fire. Mark pointed out where he was approximately standing and I started a grid search. I covered about a 50 x 20 foot area and couldn’t find it. I went in the opposite direction to the other side of the fire and came up with a nickel and believe it or not a 1962 silver quarter in the same scoop. I went another 10 feet and there it was. I lifted it up and showed Mark and everyone on the beach started clapping.

Mark told me after finding the ring that it was custom made for him and was a very heavy platinum band, then he said “this is the tenth time I have lost this ring” I suggested that he have his telephone number engraved inside of it.

The hunt took less than 30 minutes so after Mark took care of my gas expense we took some pictures and he told me he would send me a copy of the video he took while I was looking for the ring.

Another happy ending as I said to myself, “I love my job”.

Last year I visited Sandy after she called me about her lost silver necklace in the blueberry patch. I had success in finding it. I gave Sandy my card incase she needed my services again. Well I got a call from Sandy yesterday telling me she lost her garage door opener while cutting her grass and dumping the clippings in some tall weeds to the side of her garage. She and a friend looked for it the day she lost it but didn’t have any luck. I told Sandy I would be out around 1pm the next day but gave her a call this morning and asked if I could come out earlier due to a pending storm, she said come on over. My detector friend Dave and myself headed over for the 12 mile trip and started to look for the opener. Sandy had to go get her dog and would return in about an hour. She was hardly out of the drive when Dave’s detector went off and there it was. I gave the opener to her husband who is recouping from hip surgery and he said “thank you” and told me Sandy would send me a check. Another great adventure doing a job I love to do.

Lost while throwing out grass clippings.

A most unusual request was made to me to help find a broken discharge water line coming from a sump pump in a 100+ year old home.

The line extended about 200 feet coming out of the basement and then made a 90 degree turn out to a drainage ditch. The owner Cody and his wife Jennifer

bought the house 2 months ago when they moved from Tennessee. They didn’t have any trouble until the recent rains that caused some flooding.

Cody ran a metal spring steel snake from the house to a point about 200 feet then stopped, he then tried it from the ditch to about 100 feet and was stopped again.

With the snake still in the pipe from the house my detector friend Dave B. and I followed it out to about the spot the snake stopped.

We dug a trench about 6 feet long and 3 feet deep hoping to find the PVC pipe to no avail. We then dug holes from the ditch following the sunken pipe every

6 feet until we found the 90 degree turn just 6 inches from our original trench. Not finding any clog at the 90 degree joint we started digging toward the

house and there was the collapse in the line. This all took about 3 hours and Cody and Jennifer P. were very happy that we could help them.

For our time and reward we asked if we could detect their yard of some 100 plus years old.

I got a call last week from Obi who lives in Muskegon, MI. He and his fiancee were in their back yard horsing around in the snow. Prior to them playing in the snow Obi’s fiancee gave him her ring which needed resizing. He put it in his pocket and together they enjoyed the new fallen snow. It was a small back yard and when they started to go into the house he felt in his pocket and said the ring was gone. Obi had a metal detector junior and tried to find the ring but couldn’t. The next day he went out and rented a better detector to no avail. There is a septic tank cover near where he lost it and the detector kept peeping.

Obi looked on line for “find my lost ring” and came across www.theringfinders.com he then looked in the directory and found my name. With a lot of things going on during the week and being it wasn’t lost in a public area I told Obi I would be out Sunday Feb 24.

My brother Doug and I searched the 50′ by 75′ back yard and could not get a signal on the ring. We cleared all the snow off the septic tank area and check the snow with no luck. Since the loss there has been about 6 to 10 inches of snowfall which made hunting a little harder because the snow was very heavy.

Obi gave me money for gas and I told him my next trip after a thaw was on me. I assured his fiancee not to worry we will find it.

Now that the winter months are upon us and the snow is here, accidents occur with rings lost throwing snowballs, taking gloves off pulling off rings in the snow,

cleaning your car and off comes the ring, etc. There are many stories out there but I can help you find your lost treasure. I have 40 years of experience finding

lost treasurers. I live in Grand Rapids, MI and can travel anywhere you need me.

I  charge for gas expense depending on the distance traveled and if the item is found I would accept a reward.

    Call me at 616 406-6653 or email: gelarabel@sbcglobal.net

Brian Bierenga with ring back on finger

I received an email today from a  friend, Vickie J. ,who works where I used to work. She  knew that I metal detected and retired just to go detecting.  A co-worker mentioned to her that her husband had lost a lot of weight and was doing some yard work and lost his wedding ring as it was very loose. She told Rhiannon B. about me. I called Vickie after receiving the email and then decided to message Rhiannon on FB. Before you know it between 2:30PM when I received the email and 5:30PM when I went to their home, the ring was back on Brian’s finger.

Brian had bagged three big bags of leaves to be thrown out the next day. When I messaged them on FB I told them not to throw out any bags until I check them. I got out my Bounty Hunter metal detector and check bag one and two with no alerts, checking bag three I got a great signal then emptied a few leaves and there it was.

Brian is a teacher at Mattawan High School and I’m sure will have some good news for his students tomorrow.

Margaret V. and Mother

On July 4th Jon B. son-in-law of Steve V. was up visiting his wifes family at Wall Lake, North of Delton, MI. While playing in the swim area with his children he noticed his ring was missing. After searching the area he was unable to find it and mentioned it to Steve, soon the vacation was over and Jon and his family headed back to Houston, TX. To add insult to injury they totaled their car on the way back home.

A month later a metal detecting friend, Dave Moyer, was approached by a Steve while Dave was metal detecting on a school playground. He asked him if he could search the water for a lost ring. After giving the man his card he got a call about a month later and was asked to come out to the lake and look for the ring. Dave asked me to come along and help because he had not searched any deep water and knew I did a lot of water searches.

Dave and I went out to Wall Lake just North of Delton, MI. It was a nice Fall day about 68 degrees and the water was still warm from the summer months. After spending a few minutes preparing our gear and entering the water I found the ring after 3 sweeps with my CZ21 detector. We continued to search the swim area, as we would normally do, to remove any junk such as nails, pull tabs, dock bolts and anything else that could hurt someone swimming.

Steve’s mom was visiting his grandmother who owns the home on the lake and was watching us look for the ring and they had their doubts that it would be found. Finding the ring added a bright side to an awful finish to a summer vacation for Jon and his family.