Palladium ring lost in Portland Oregon
This last Saturday afternoon, I received a text message from Ross, saying his wife had dropped her wedding band off their deck into the backyard, and was hoping to enlist my services to find it. I was on the road from central Oregon, returning from an unfortunate failed search, so I told him I would contact him when I got home.
We later had a phone conversation and Ross explained that his wife, Julia, had been cooking out on the deck. She had her rings on a necklace. Somehow the necklace came apart and she saw the rings fall through the deck boards. They had rented a metal detector, and after cutting back much of the foliage, found one of the rings. Unfortunately, the palladium band that had belonged to her grandmother was still MIA.
I had to meet up and return a recovered ring on Sunday morning, but told him I would come out after that.
I arrived and met up with Ross, Julia was out. He showed me the deck, and the area below where the other ring was found. I searched the area, finding nothing but deck screws and debris.
I returned to the deck and dropped a couple of my ring simulations through the deck boards. I was able to find those with no problems. Being slightly frustrated, I used a flashlight to check between the deck boards, and a camera to look into the voids below the deck.
Julia had returned, so I interrogated her about the situation. She was certain she had seen the ring fall through the deck boards. With that information, I redoubled my efforts and expanded the search area. Many feet below the suspected loss area, I found a faint but promising signal on the Manticore. After moving away some brush, I saw the ring. I was so excited to find it, I forgot to take any photos.
I climbed up the hill and met Ross at the door. Julia had left, but Ross was super excited to see the ring. We had a speaker phone conversation, and I could hear the emotion in her voice about finding the ring.
Its such a beautiful feeling to reunite an item that means so much, and thank you for your generosity.

A few weeks ago, I received a message from Caleb asking if I could help find his lost wedding ring. He was spreading hay over the construction site for erosion control, and during the process, his ring came off. He told me he had narrowed the area to about a 10′ radius, but had not been able to find it himself.