Gregg Larabel, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 7 of 16

I got a call from Alison M. today at 7 am asking me if I could help find her husband of 2 weeks, wedding ring. She tried contacting another Ring Finder, Ken Wilson, but he was recovering from an operation and he recommended me. The ring was lost last night in the shallow water (3′) at the sand dunes of Ludington State Park. Her husband Colton M. was swimming and the ring came off during one of his strokes. After alerting everyone to the loss they started looking for an impossible find due to fine sand that hides items immediately.

I told Alison that we, Dave Boyer and myself, could be there around 1 pm. It was a 2 hour drive to their location. After we arrived we met Alison and Molly, her mother. In order to reach the dunes we had to go across the lake so we loaded up and took off. The water was clear and cool, the sun was shining and the white sandy bottom made it easy to drag our scoops to properly grid the area. After about 20 minutes of searching I got a signal and in the scoop was the new shiny white gold wedding ring. I ask Alison if that was the ring and she lit up like a Christmas tree. Colton was at work and was unable to celebrate with us so I took Alison’s picture and asked her to send me one of Colton when she went to his office to surprise him. “He was all smiles and lots of hugs” when she gave it to him.

We had some time at the dunes to just search for some goodies in the water but found the area was extremely clean for being a weekend gathering place for boaters and swimmers. We found 2 quarters, 3 shotgun shells, 1 pull tab and a few coins.

I WANT TO GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO KEN WILSON FOR THE REFERRAL AND A SUCCESSFUL RECOVERY FROM BACK SURGERY.

During the South West Michigan Seek and Search club meeting Tuesday evening, I received a call from Kirstyn P. in a desperate situation over loosing her 3 karat diamond engagement ring. She was at Sanford Lake Park with friends out in the water playing catch with a football. She had her ring on her right throwing hand and discovered it was gone after she got out of the water and dried her hands off. Kirstyn and 20 of her friends combed the beach and the water for hours until she posted her loss on Facebook and got a reply from a woman,  Stephanie Marie, who I had found her ring for her a few years ago.

I made arrangements with her to drive 2 hours to meet her that morning at the park. Dave Boyer, my Ring Finder partner, and I got out to the park at about 9:30 am and after meeting Kristyn and a friend we got our marching orders and headed out to the lake. We usually grid an area with Dave going one direction back and forth and me going the other way up and down. After about an hour, between the marker buoys, Dave went up to check out the beach. I finished my grid and got to the center of about a 100′ X 100′ area and got a good hit. Looking in my scoop was a beautiful engagement ring that I quickly slipped into my glove.

I walked up to the picnic table where everyone was setting and explained that the water was as clean as I have ever seen (no coins, bottle caps or rings) there were several holes where there was an obvious detector out there in the last few days. I reached in my glove and showed Kirstyn the ring and said “but I did find this, is this it?” The look on her face is that which all of us Ring Finders want to see, followed with a big hug. Kirstyn’s future mother in law, Michelle, was there and proceeded to snap off a few pics. This was a real pleasure meeting her friend, uncle, Michelle and a few others. Her Fiance, “Trevorgyver”, was at work but is one happy man. Thank you Michelle for buying our lunch it was a pleasure meeting you.

A bachelor party ended up with a lost Go Pro camera attached to a tripod in about 7 feet of water. A.P. (initials he goes by) called me Monday to tell me how he lost the camera while swimming out to the dock at East Lake Campgrounds in Hopkins, Michigan. He thought it was in deeper water so I called in my backup scuba diver Craig Ziecina who has pulled me out of a couple tough jams lately. While Dave Boyer and myself searched the shallows in the roped off swimming area Craig went deep into the spring fed dark bottom of the swim area. After about 10 minutes the camera was recovered. I attempted to call A.P. and set up a time to return his camera. After some negotiations between a 175 mile distance between us we will be returning it to him soon. Pictures for our book of smiles will be edited into the story soon.

I found a mans gold wedding ring tonight for one of our Canadian neighbors who is in town working. He was staying at Hampton Inn in Wyoming, MI and walked 1 block from the Inn to Spectrum lanes for a bite to eat. Because of his job he  takes off his ring. Sunday night before going out he had put his ring in his back pocket and later discovered he had a hole in his pocket when he got back to the motel.
Justin W. found me on line and gave me a call. Living close by I told him I would meet him at the motel at 7 pm. I called Dave Boyer my Ring Finder partner and after some obvious questions we started the search. Dave went North from the lanes and Justin and I walked South from the motel.
We waited for the light to change at 54th and Clyde Park to cross. While standing at the crosswalk I looked out in the intersection just outside the crosswalk between the lanes and I saw what looked like gold foil, as we crossed the street I bent down and picked up what was the ring. When I got to the other side I looked at Justin and said “is this your ring?” Justin holding back his emotions and looking at the slightly bent and pitted gold ring from being run over, smiled and acknowledged it was his ring. Justin’s picture was not available for our book of smiles because of his emotions over the found ring, he is very happy though.
Justin lost the ring on Sunday night it sat in one of the busier intersections for 5 days only to be found by The Ring Finder on a Friday night.

There is an additional picture to add to this story. As I had mention to Justin yesterday, he should go to Russell & Ballard Jewelers to fix the ring. He did just that Saturday morning and Colin Ballard took care of his ring and here is the picture.

I got a call from Walt Z. yesterday July 9. He was at his friends house on Tipsico Lake reliving their early days trying to dunk a basketball out of 3 feet of water. While coming up for a dunk Walt felt his ring come off and it was gone under 3 inches of sand before he could react to catching it. After searching for the ring for a while Walt gave up and looked up a ring finding service. Dave Boyer, my Ring Finder partner, and I arrived at the house around 11:30 am and began the search. The water was clear and the bottom was sandy with a hard pack underneath the sand. Dave decided to watch as the area was about 10′ x 10′ so I began a grid search based on where Walt thought the ring might be. Walt was pretty accurate as to where he thought it was and I came up with his ring in a few minutes after the search began. It was raining all morning so we got wet in and out of the water. Walt’s wife, Shellie, has a blog for women and said she was going to post the ring recovery on her blog. So the question remains, did Walt make his slam dunk?

A friend of mine, John P., called me yesterday and asked if I could find his stepsons Apple watch in the water. John’s wife, Kim, cuts my hair and charges me by the minute instead by the normal haircut price, if you saw my lack of hair you would understand why. Kim’s son, Mark D., jumped off the dock into the water to go swimming and when he came out of the water his $500 Apple watch was gone. Mark called me after John gave him my number and we made an appointment to come out and look for it. 

My Ringfinder partner, Dave Boyer, and I got to Mark’s house and looked over the area. We first tried to drag the area with our long handled homemade scoop to no avail. We put our wetsuits on and went into the water. The water was cool and there was about 6 inches of black mud. After about 20 minutes we got a signal, in the 90’s, on the AT Pro but had a hard time scooping it out because it was almost 6 feet deep so we had Mark’s friend, Colin B., dive down and scoop with is hands under the coil. He felt it the first time and dove again and pulled up the watch. Mark was ecstatic that we found his watch.

Here is the “Rest of the Story”. The Apple watch was lost 2 weeks ago in 6 feet of water and 6 inches of black mud, when we pulled it up, it was still working and it had 61% battery life. Noticed the white watch band with back stains. After Mark called his mom and dad everyone is happy and now I might get a free haircut from Kim!

I got a text from a detecting friend, Dave Boyer, about a ring that was lost in Duck lake. This is a home we had visited before looking for a sister in law’s lost wedding ring. Tim H. and myself were driving to a seeded hunt put on by the Michigan Metal Detectors group when I got Dave’s text. After a successful and fun afternoon with the MMD, we headed back home but stopped on the way to White lake. When we drove up to the house Ron H. was there to meet us. Ron indicated that he had done some yard work in the front yard then went to the back of the house to reset his pump in the water. He uses the water form the lake to water his lawn thus having a pump in the lake just off his dock area. Ron let Tim use his waders and I had mine with me and we proceeded out in the water in about 2 to 3 feet deep. I moved the long hose and the pump head to the side about 5 feet so the metal would not interfere with our search. I got a signal near the shore and dug up a dime then walked out deeper where Ron had been re-positioning the pump and got a good signal, after I had Tim verify that it could be gold, I dug it up and in the top of the scoop was Ron’s gold wedding band. Needless to say he was thrilled to death.

Ron’s wife Flora, came out and was so happy because that was the ring that she gave him with their vows and didn’t want to buy him a new one.

Two weeks ago I got a Facebook message from my cousin Tammy M. telling me I may get a call from a guy who lost his ring. I waited a week and no call so I messaged Tammy and asked if he had found his ring yet, she said she would contact him. I got a call yesterday from Mark D. saying that he had been very busy putting in docks at his Sportsman Camping grounds on Hardy Pond. He has over 80 slips that he was putting in the day he lost his ring. He had just put down a piling when his wedding ring came off in about 4 feet of water. He had lost some weight and his wife asked him why was he wearing his ring, if he didn’t wear it now he probably would never wear it.

Marks wife was with him when the ring was lost and she said don’t worry we will get another. He didn’t want another because that ring was important to him. He looked down at where the ring went in and he could see it on the rim of the post that he had just placed in the water. “I tried to slowly bring up the post but the suction from the water and sand pulled it off the rim” Mark tried to rake around the sand to no avail.

Two weeks passed and Mark finally had the time to call me and the next day my Ring Finder partner Dave Boyer and I got on the scene. The water was shallow enough for waders and we pulled up the iron post holding up the dock after bracing it up with a car jack a few feet down fro m where we wanted to search. After running the detector around the area we got a good signal and dug several times. We finally recovered a 1977 quarter. We got another signal and after a couple scoops there was the ring.

Mark was a very happy man and said we could come to the campgrounds anytime to detect the beach and search around the docks. It was nice meeting and talking to a great entrepreneur like Mark.

A couple of months ago Sam K. called me and said he was putting lotion on his hands and placed his wedding ring on his lap while sitting in his carpet cleaning truck. He forgot about the ring and got out of the truck and went about his business of cleaning carpets. There was a heavy snow that day and the snow plow plowed the snow in the driveway, of the house he was at, into a large pile. My detecting partner Dave Boyer and myself searched through the snow and then knock down the snow bank to detect it deeper, no results. I called Sam and told him we would go back out after the heavy snow melted down a little. After several trips over a couple months we still couldn’t find the ring (we never quit). Last week Sams wife, Caitlin, called me and asked if Sam told me about the other house he was at that day and could have lost it there. I got the address from her and yesterday went out to Grandville, Michigan on a beautiful sunny day (44 degrees) and after 5 minutes I found the ring in a little snow bank at the end of the driveway. I called Caitlin and told her the good news. Seeing that Valentines Day is upon us, she decided to put the ring in a box of chocolates. The rest is history and the ring is back on his finger.

The pictures tell the story of Sam receiving his ring on Valentines Day from his wife. the first picture is Sam looking in a box of chocolates, the second is him seeing his ring and the third is Sam with his recovered ring. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

 

Rebecca called me Saturday to see if I could help find her mothers diamond earring. She had gotten my name from a friend referral. I was in Chicago at the time of the call and told her I would call her mother on Monday to set up an appointment. Sunday evening Rebecca’s mother, Deb D., gave me a call and we set a time to come out to her home to look for the earring.

This was an unusual search as it was inside the home. I have had several searches in homes but it is a lot of detective work as opposed to metal detecting. Deb removed her earrings in her bedroom as usual and placed them in a small box on her dresser, at least that is what she usually does. This time she took a nap and after the nap took her earrings off and that is when she discovered one was missing. Her husband Fred and her got down on their knees and look all around on their deep pile carpeting in her bedroom to no avail. Deb called her daughter, as these were given to Deb for their 50 wedding anniversary, and told her the bad news. That is where the call to me started.

I asked Deb some questions like did you take them off in the bathroom over the sink? (maybe fell in the trap) When was the last time you know you had them on, etc? We got a flashlight and began the search keying in on the bedroom. I search by feel in the pile of the carpet creating a grid a couple feet at a time, looked under the dresser and then under the bed all the while feeling for a small hard object. Fred and Deb looked in the same area but found nothing even by placing the remaining earring on the carpet to compare what it should look like, it blended in very well. After a search on one side of the bed for ten minutes the earring was found in the carpet pile next to the night stand.

After the earring was recovered we took a picture for our book of smiles, had a cup of coffee, talked about retirement, family and travel. Deb could not stop smiling she was so happy and Fred was very relieved to have this episode behind them.