Gregg Larabel, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 8 of 17

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.

I got an email from Erik G. yesterday about him loosing his Tungsten wedding band while  “picking up sticks” in his yard. After getting a handful of sticks he threw them in the field of high grass next too his drive. Shortly after throwing the sticks away he noticed his ring was missing. Timing, as it may, he found out about the Ring Finders from a friend and looked me up on the Ring Finders directory. Because of my schedule I emailed Erik and asked if I could come out Thursday afternoon or wait until next week, Erik called me and we made arrangements for today.

Dave Boyer, my Ring Finder partner, and I met Erik at his home. Erik pointed out where he might have lost the ring and we began our search. Erik was walking back to the house to stay warm while we searched and before he got to the house the ring was recovered. It was in the tall grass where the sticks ended up after being tossed. This was a quick search although ending just like any other ring recovery, it ended with a Ring and a Smile.

It was nice meeting Erik and seeing the relief in his eyes as his wife Chris will be happy upon hearing the news.

I got a laugh about a post from Shane G. on Facebook to Erik, “Dodged a bullet right there”.

Ann T. called me, while I was assembling the Christmas Lite Show in Comstock Park, MI, about her ring that she lost last Friday. Ann is a photographer and while taking family pictures in Prairie Wolf Park, Ann picked up a handful of leaves to use as a prop for her picture and noticed her ring was missing. Her ring was designed by her husband and was a one of a kind very heavy Platinum ring with a diamond center, she was very upset about the loss and posted the loss on Facebook. She received a reply to look up The Ring Finders. This is where I was referred to her by Tom Townsend another Ring Finder.

I set up an appointment for today to meet her at the park and search for her ring. Ann laid out the process as to where leaves were picked up and the walk down the hill where the pictures were taken. I searched the area to begin with at the starting point while my brother Doug searched the bottom of the hill. I joined Doug at the bottom of the hill shortly after coming up with nothing at the starting point. A thorough search was made at the bottom of the hill so we made our way up the hill to the starting point being joined by Ring Finder, Dave Boyer, a strong signal was received just to the right of my original search. The ring was found and a phone call was made to Ann.

Amazed that we found her ring we joined her at her home for the presentation.  Ann is a very happy and relieved woman and thanked The Ring Finders.

Jeremy B. his wife Rebecca and their three children live on a little piece of heaven on earth, a 3 acre parcel with a 100 year old barn and room for their young children to play. Jeremy was gathering leaves and filled 28 drums of leaves the other day and dumping them in the back of their property in a four foot tall pile. After he was finished for the day he noticed his gold wedding band, that Rebecca had designed for him, was missing. It could have been lost in a couple of places on the property. Jeremy googled lost ring and found The Ring Finders and my name in Grand Rapids, after a call to me I made arrangements for my detecting partner Dave Boyer and myself to come out and search the next day.

We met Jeremy, his wife and the children and got the layout of the land and decided to search the leaf pile as the first logical place to look. We were on the leaf pile and after knocking the four foot pile down to two feet, a strong signal was detected, brushing away a few more leaves was the gold ring. We thought it would be nice for Jeremy’s young son, Corbin, to find it so we walked up to the front lawn where they raked the leaves the other day and placed it under some grass and gave him my pin pointer. When the pointer beeped he reached in the grass and picked up the ring and ran out to his dad with the ring waving in the air. Jeremy was all smiles walking up to thank us for finding his ring.

They were a very happy couple and invited us to come out anytime to detect the property and as legend has it, there might be a civil war cannon buried in the area somewhere. Jeremy is putting a new foundation and restoring the old barn creating a new use underneath the barn.

Mike S. called me late Sunday evening asking if I could find a diamond ring in about 5 feet of water that His wife, Beth, accidentally dropped off her finger while untangling the tubing ropes. She was holding the ring on her finger for a family friend, Megan P, who didn’t want to loose it while tubing. Dave Boyer, my Ring Finder partner, drove 40 miles North to Hess lake Monday morning and met Patrice P. who showed us the area that she thought the ring was lost. Patrice had been riding in the boat as the kids were tubing so she was sure about the area. Dave and I searched the lake in a triangle shaped area about half the size of a football field. The lake had zero visibility at the bottom because of the silt that was knocked around as we swung or detectors. There were dozens of hits but after 4 hours we gave up the search and said we would come back. I called Mike and asked him if he could meet us at the cottage the next day and reenact what had taken place. Mike agreed and said he would cook up some hot dogs and hamburgers for us.  We got up to the cottage and added another Ring Finder, Fred Johnson (Fred was going to be our ringer). It was around 4 PM so we got into the water and started our search. Mike backed the boat out and showed us how things went and that gave us a different perspective of an area that we had not searched. After an hour we still had nothing to show for our efforts so I started to search an area that we looked at yesterday and got a pretty good hit but was searching in a large hole that was dug the day before. I dug about three large scoops and checked in my scoop after clearing away decayed wood chips and a glob of sand, there it was. Mike was sitting on the dock and Dave and Fred was still searching and I started walking towards the dock and asked Mike if we could have those hot dogs and hamburgers (like I was giving up). Mike said “sure let me fire up the grill” and then I said is this the ring?  Mike was so happy he couldn’t believe it, he immediately got on his phone and said “they found it”!

Mike started up the grill, the food and conversation was great and stories were exchanged and pictures taken. I am happy for Megan, she got her ring back and happy for Beth to be relieved of such an unfortunate accident. Have a great Labor Day everyone!

Fred Johnson,  a Ring Finder, got an email today at 3PM from Eric R., “last night my wife lost her rings while swimming…somewhere in 4-8 feet of water off our dock…possible area of perhaps 1000 square feet…only 3-5′ visibility at present…sand and silt bottom…is this something doable for you or is the depth an issue”. When it comes to ring finding we have few issues and dept of water is one but we have a fellow Ring Finder, Chuck Raison, who is our diver and who we can call on. Fred gave me a call and asked if I was available to help him find these rings. I called my brother Doug and headed down to Gull lake to meet Fred at Eric’s house.

After Eric had taken us out to the dock and showed us a buoy that his wife, Martha, swam around and then back to the dock. She was swimming back stroke to avoid their dog, Lucy, who was swimming in the lake too. When Martha got up to the ladder on the dock she noticed her rings were gone. The rings were an engagement ring, white gold with diamonds and a ten year anniversary ring, white gold with diamonds.

It was a beautiful afternoon to go out in the water so we started from the shore and made our way out to neck deep water with no signals. I got my life vest on and extended my detector shaft as long as it would go and checked out the deeper water around the buoy. Had I got a good signal we would have called in Chuck R. to dive for it. I made my way back to shallower water where I could just stand up in and got a good signal with my CZ21 and tried to scoop it but was unsuccessful so Fred got his Pin pointer and mask and went down under my coil and scooped up a handful of mud and the engagement ring came up sparkling in the water. I continued to search for another signal as I was sure it wasn’t too far away. After a few more dives by Fred and a good scoop we got the anniversary ring. This was truly a combination effort between Fred and myself.

A little before we got the good signal Martha came out on the dock and thanked us for coming out. Then we started back to the dock and told Martha it was pretty deep and we might have to get our diver. As I got on the dock I reached into my net with my finds and Martha saw something shining and started yelling and could hardly control herself. I said is this it? Fred then reached out his hand with the other ring and Martha hugged Fred, Doug and I as wet as we were, she couldn’t believe we found them. Martha said a prayer last night to Saint Anthony patron saint of lost items.

Eric and Martha’s daughter turned them on to The Ring Finders through Googling “lost ring”. Thank you webmaster for putting us on the top of the “lost rings” site.