Lost Platinum Wedding Ring Found in Santa Cruz !

I was contacted on the eve of 7/31 by a local area woman. She had lost a platinum wedding band and wondered if I could help her and was I interested ? I was at her house by 11a.m. the next morning. The ring had been” lost” after it had been thrown into the front yard. The situation appeared to be tailor made for an “easy” recovery. It proved to be anything but that.  To begin with, the area had the worst interference I had ever encountered. The EMF from the power lines and the conductive salts from the fresh fertilizer was giving my machine fits. It would not ground balance properly and I couldn’t push my gain past 4 or 5. This combined with the fact that platinum is inherently difficult to locate made me realize I was in for a serious challenge. The entire possible area was only around 500 sq. ft.  It was about 3/4 nicely kept lawn with the remainder planted with shrubs and covered with redwood bark mulch.  I first carefully and thoroughly searched the lawn and easy open areas. With these eliminated I then scoured the planted bark-mulch area, pushing in as tight to the shrubs and plants as possible. After an hour still no ring. As luck would have it, she had a matching band from her husband. I tied a flagging line onto the band and had her mimic the throw she had made with her own ring. The ring flew about 6′, way short and in the middle of the lawn where it definitely wasn’t hiding.  After shortening the flag as much as possible she gave it another throw and it ended up even with the planted area but a little right. I had my range ! I deduced (correctly or luckily, you pick) that she had probably thrown it even harder but I knew it hadn’t been thrown over the area.  It was concrete and asphalt past the shrubs and since she hadn’t heard the ring hit , it must be in the shrubs.  If she HAD thrown it harder, but not farther, it must have been a low line drive so my next search attempt was planned accordingly. I went to the range of her throw but in the center of the planted area. I pulled up the edge of the largest shrub as much as possible and nosed my coil in as far as possible.  I heard one faint high tone on my MXT but the signal was confused and looked to be trash. After a  minute I was about ready to walk away but I decided to try and pinpoint it one more time. I got a good spot on the pinpoint and when I set my pro pointer to the ground I put it right on top of the ring ! A great day for everyone !