Lost ring in Pepperell MA found in the Nashua river
Hey guys and gals! I do enjoy writing these stories, but I never admitted to being another Robert Frost, so here’s one from a lovely observer!
Dear Elizabeth,
This is Paul writing again via Mimi’s Computer, two days later.
So sometimes things happen with astonishing speed. Thus, starting on Thursday,
after writing you, I continued conjuring up various simple ways of finding your ring,
Such as taking a kitchen cooking pot, drilling its bottom full of holes a bit smaller
than my best guess about your ring’s diameter, and then getting myself into the river,
going out to the end of the stones, scooping up the silt & mud & plants next to me,
raising the pot up, letting the water drain, walking to the shore, dumping the contents,
sifting through it, and continuing this routine bit by bit in an ever widening circle until
finding the ring.
I also had about four competing methods, but before starting to implement any
of them, (thank God,) my shop machinist said why not rent a metal detector? So, as
I was leaving for lunch, I asked him to research the subject for me on the internet.
When I got back I saw that he had picked a promising site,”The Ring Finders
Metal Detecting Service”, which I immediately opened, and then continued into the
United States section, and then into the Massachusetts section, and finally to the
“Ring Finder” who works in the Boston area, Guy Fuller, 603-809-3622.
After reading his entry I called him up and told him about our situation. He was
very positive about being able to help and thought he could get to me either Friday
night after his day job, or Sunday night, ditto. He got back in touch on Friday and
was ready to come down. He arrived at 7:45 with his little dog, Abby, and his car’s
trunk full of metal-finding gear. I still didn’t think he could possibly find your ring.
As we walked past the house and down to swimming place he told us story
after story of rings that he had found, some under truly impossible circumstances,
like finding a ring lost more than 30 years before, or under deep snow, or in a huge
field of grass. Then he picked up his gear, marched out into the water to the end of
the stones, and got to work. Mimi and I were watched him for less than 30 minutes
as he moved his wand back and forth around his feet, listening to his ear phones
for the sound signal that could mean either Nickel or Gold to his trained ear. He also
had a little bucket (with the same holes in it that I dreamed up for my kitchen pot) at
the end of a long handle. This he would periodically jam into the river bed bottom,
turn it this way and that, bring it to the surface, search its contents, and then dump
them all back into the water behind him.
And then he stayed leaning over his little bucket and started walking back to
the shore. I thought he was tired, and coming in for a well-deserved rest. I was
wrong: when he reached us he gave Mimi your beautiful, delicate, ring. I really
couldn’t believe that he had found it, even when I held it in my hands. We were all
so happy, and that was really the moment that he always loved with the people that
he helped. We were all so unbelievably happy! He got himself dried off, told us a
few more stories, and we all walked back up to his car. He rang the Bell in the Gate,
accepted our little gift for his efforts, and off he drove, He was a Texan, and a really
fine person.
Here is the high point of Mimi’s video (click on it) and a photo: as soon as we get the
address you’d like us to use we’ll send you the ring itself.
with love from us all, Paul and Mimi.
