When you are a Ring Finder, you never know when your next search will be. I had a feeling that I might get a search this week because here in Yakima we had a very cold and snowy spell.This can often mean valuables such as keys and rings can get lost.
When the call came asking if I was willing to help find a lost gold wedding band I was not surprised. After speaking with the wife of the man who lost his ring I was ready to start the hunt.
The ring had fallen off while the husband was cleaning the snow off the car, and then brushed his arms and hands off. He told me that he heard a metal “clank” but did not put it together that it was his ring that made the noise. When he arrived at home, he realized that his ring was gone and was sure that it was his ring that must have come off back in the parking lot. Well he returned to the site, but there was two inches of fresh snow in the lot and he could not find the ring. I was called the next day after they found my listing on The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service on the internet.
I agreed to meet them after work to look for the ring. Now I said earlier that it was cold and snowy, and it was. Although the snow had mostly stopped it was still only around 18 F outside and by the time the search was called off for the night it was well on the way to -5 F.
Unfortunately when we arrived at the search location the parking lot had already been plowed. There was only a 1/4 of packed snow on the parking lot, with two large piles of snow off in the corners. The man was able to put me exactly where the ring came off so I searched that area first. I then expanded the search grid to include the most likely route the scraper would have taken to move the snow into the piles. Still no ring. So after looking at the two piles of snow we decided to search the most likely one, which of course was the larger of the two.
I began to shovel layers of snow off the pile and search the remaining snow. After about two hours I had searched about half of the pile, and called it quits for the night.
The next day was even colder, but the sun was out and I was again eager to continue the hunt. My oldest son was home from school, so I asked if he would like to help me search for the ring, and fortunately he did. So off we went. It took about another hour of digging each layer of snow, and then searching it to come up with the ring. It was sitting just hidden in a clump of snow. About the time I swung the metal detector over the ring, I heard the beep and there was the ring. I could not believe we found it. I thought for sure that I would have to just wait for the pile to melt before the ring would be found.
Now I wanted to surprise the husband with the ring and capture that on video, so I called his wife and told her that I had found the ring but wanted to surprise him. So I asked her if she could get him down to the search area to give me some more details about losing the ring, and she agreed.
When they arrived I asked him if he could tell me about what significance the ring was to him and to go over how he lost it again. Then I asked him to describe the ring and after he was done I pulled out the ring and asked if it looked like this one! He was very surprised and happy to get the ring back.
I was pretty happy to have found it for him with the help of my son. It was a great moment I will not soon forget.
They were very kind in giving me a nice reward, which was much appreciated. I do accept rewards as it helps me cover costs and keep my equipment up to date, but for me the true reward is the great smile and joy that I get to witness and be a part of.
Thanks guys for giving me a call and letting me be a part of your wedding ring story.
Congrats on the find, he sure looks happy!
Thanks Chris, ya that is the best part about this job.
Thanks for all your help.
Thanks so much for finding the wedding ring, we were so suprised and amazed that you spent so much time to find it for us. Not exactly how we expected to get on You Tube :). Happy hunting….
The Fergusons
Thanks Guys, it was great being able to find your ring. I had about the same reaction as Glenn when I found it in the snow. Hope you did not eat to much turkey yesterday!
Steve
Great find and nice video Steve.
Brrrrrr…..looks cold out there.
Well i’m off to the beach, about 95f today (sorry, couldn’t resist that one).
Regards,
Tony (TheRingfinders)
Thanks Tony and ouch! 95f… its a nice 18f right now. Post another vid, I like watching yours, especially this time of year.
Steve
Steve,
Will be posting a video tomorrow…..water hunt at the beach.
Hopefully something nice in my scoop.
Tony.
Great job Steven!
Thanks Tony, It was great finding the ring.