Received a call from Mike this afternoon requesting my service to locate his Fiancée engagement ring which she just lost while doing a photo shoot of their engagement announcement @ the park. I told Mike that I would be there within the hour as I know the park gets very busy with people later in the afternoon.
Meet up with Mike & Amy they told me what happened to the ring they where throwing snowballs up in the air and her ring flew off her finger somewhere, they had a blanket on the snow-covered ground after the photo shoot was over Mike picked up the blanket and shook the snow off unknowingly to Amy her ring must have fallen on the blanket and ended in the snow. Amy did not realise her ring was gone until they got back into there car.
With in 20 minutes of searching I had the ring back on Amy’s finger, Mike & Amy where very grateful for my prompt service.
This hunt turned into a 7 month saga that had consumed my thoughts at least once a day every day during that time.
Late August 2016 I received a call from Kevin who now lives in California. He is an alumnus of Cornell University in Ithaca NY. Kevin stated that in 2006 he was at a function being held at the Cornell Recreation Park, a private park that the university has for school and alumni functions. Kevin stated that during that outing he lost his platinum wedding band somewhere in that park. He was positive that he lost it there as he had it when he went to the park and during the day he noticed that his ring was gone.
He had just found “theringfinders.com” web site, saw that I was the closest to the park and asked if I would be so kind as to look for his ring. Off course I would, so I obtained the important information about the ring, where did he think he lost it etc. He was quite sure that he lost it during the “Tug of War” but they also played Frisbee, and did a lot of causal walking. So at the next possible time I went to Cornell to look for his ring.
The park is way off the road, has a gate that is locked when not in use, and is quite large for a private park. It has a big, 8’ x 40’ BBQ pit, some buildings etc. I started looking for his ring and was digging lots of aluminum foil (from the BBQ) and the usual pull tabs and junk, but after 5 hours of hunting I had not found his ring. I had only covered about half of the park and had not gotten to some of the places he played Frisbee or anywhere near the area where he had done some causal walking. Some 10 days later I returned to the park to finish the hunt, but with the same results after 6 hours of hunting. No sign of his ring.
I had failed. Now we all fail at times, but usually it’s at a public beach, park etc. where someone else has found the ring. It was possible that Kevin’s ring was picked up that day by another alumnus. I tried to convince myself of that and I e-mailed Kevin that I thought that was why I did not find his ring. My wife and I were heading out to Florida and the Caribbean on a cruise and would not be home until just before Christmas. It was not much of a vacation as at least once every day I was thinking about Kevin’s ring. When we returned there was snow on the ground and the ground was frozen. No more hunting until spring.
The next three months was more of the same. Where was Kevin’s ring? Did I miss it somehow? Was the dry hard ground to blame? While I was in the Caribbean I watched people on beaches and in parks. They do not look down while walking so I discounted the possibly that Kevin’s ring was picked up that day. Although I’m sure some of the alumni brought lawn chairs, I watched people as they sat in the chairs and they don’t look down either. The park is locked except when there is a function so no-one else would be there searching with a metal detector. Kevin’s ring HAD to be there.
I e-mail Kevin during March and asked if it would be OK to continue looking for his ring. I informed him that his ring was causing me to loose sleep and I had to find it. Of course he said yes.
April 3rd of this year the snow was gone and the ground has thawed so I took the day to look for Kevin’s ring again. I had planned to search all week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday if needed. I guess the metal detecting gods were smiling down of me that day as I set up my grid, did a little video, and started searching. The FIRST hit, I got his ring. It was close to the BBQ pit in the area of the Tug of War. I was elated and you can see my thrill by watching the video on You Tube.
I’m still not sure way I did not get it last fall. Did I just miss it, or was the dry ground to blame? Who knows, I’m only very glad that I found his ring as now I’m sleeping at night.
So I shipped Kevin’s ring to him and its back on his finger where it belongs. Mission accomplished.
