First payment for detecting

metalwrkr

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2012
Messages
390
Location
Western Wa.
I received my first payment ever for trying to find a lost item. Was detecting at a local park when a passing pickup truck roared to a stop and a man leaped out to ask "My wife lost an earring last week and do you ever try to find lost items for people"? I said "of course I'd try to help" and off we went to his nearby home. Unfortunately the lost earring was a small diamond with tiny post and no keeper. The mate to the lost earring barely registered on my ATPro with the large coil and not much better with the small coil. The area of search was a 5'X30' strip of vegetable garden. I could not find it! I even tried sweeping my pin pointer in arcs through the surface mulch in a methodical pattern! (Interesting point here, my Garrett Propointer would barely pick up the test earring even almost touching. My Whites TRX worked at slightly over an inch away)! I spent about an hour and a half searching. We were all disappointed but the wife wanted to pay me for my time. I said "No" but then she said "Well you are going to take SOMETHING home"! She went to the porch and returned with an ENORMOUS sack of fresh picked and cleaned green beans. How could I refuse that?
 
Had the same experience. A soccer coach asked me to search for her earring on the soccer field. I spent 4 hours the first day and a couple more the next in nearly 100 degree heat plus the sun beating down. I now believe I could have found it had I had more experience. Never having found gold I didn't really know what I was doing. I think now I may be able to adjust the ATP ground balance to get some sort of signal. My ACE 350 may have been a better choice for the job, but I am not sure.
 
A lot of beach machines would have to pretty much be touching it, if it even picks it up at all. Lady here lost a small diamond one. I scanned her other one and didn't hear a peep. Needless to say that earring will likely never be found.
 
I was in a quandary as to how to cook the beans. The husband and wife were younger, thinner, long distance runner in any weather types and she suggested spritzing the beans with olive oil on a cookie sheet, sprinkling them with spices and doing a very quick broil on them but leaving them still slightly fresh crunchy, serve with poached sole..........Interesting. I am an older, somewhat overweight, sit by the fire with my feet propped up type of guy. I took the Down South route and shredded a small amount of smoky ham and sautéed it with some chopped onions until the onions were transparent. Add a small amount of chicken stock and the beans and simmer slowly until the beans have absorbed the onion and ham flavor. I had this with a thick steak marinated briefly in a little Merlot and Montreal steak seasoning before grilling. Small salad and some Italian Artisan bread and "Yum"! Hoist a glass of Merlot and "Here's to metal detecting... and eating"!
 
Back when I was the President of a local Detecting club, my mother took a message about a lady losing a ring. A friend and I met them where they had been playing volleyball. Instead of a ring, it too turned out to be a diamond post earring. We were using headphones with old Whites machines at the time. We were told that everyone who had been there had looked for it and even went as far as trying a vacuum cleaner to find it. We searched for a couple of hours with no results. Finally we asked if they had the mate to it. Our eight inch coils wouldn't even pick it up. We replaced the coil on my friends detector with a four inch coil that I had (and still have). You could get a reading by almost rubbing it against the earring. My friend on his hands and knees spent the next hour and forty-five minutes rubbing the ground with the four inch coil when he found the back to it. Did I mention these were white gold which seems to be even harder to find than yellow gold. After about another half an hour of scrubbing the ground, he said "I think I have it." He spread the grass apart and there was the large diamond shining in the sun. I don't know what it was worth but they gave us each twenty dollars for finding it and they wouldn't take no for an answer. Talk about a challenge.
 
Google green bean casserole next time:D

Hey itsaring, I checked out some casserole recipes. What registered was ingredients like (from various recipes): sour cream, half and half, cheese, bacon, fried onion rings, etc. I have had it before as a childhood Thanksgiving staple. Brought back some early memories! A perfect vegetable dish for those of us who live life in the Fat Lane.
 
Kapidr: Thanks for the comment, My Wife is always telling me that I am Trying.....VERY Trying!

Silversmith45: I sure wish I had had a sniper coil. I'm sure I would have been scrubbing also! The worst part, in my experience, is that people seldom realize where they LOST an item. They are usually only aware of where they NOTICED it was missing!

Metaladdict: You can't get up from the table till you eat ALL your vegetables!!!

Happy Hunting
 
Silversmith45: I sure wish I had had a sniper coil. I'm sure I would have been scrubbing also! The worst part, in my experience, is that people seldom realize where they LOST an item. They are usually only aware of where they NOTICED it was missing!

This woman lost it while they were playing volleyball at a party. She got hit in the side of her head and noticed the earring was gone. I knew a guy who kept searching his yard for his missing ring only to find it at his rental property across town. You are right about most people not having the slightest idea where they lost something.
 
Good job trying at least and the meal you chose sounds fantastic! Fresh produce can't be beat.
 
I tryed to help someone that once lost an old watch. She said they were having a party with their and while playing with there kids late at night the watch came off. She was also drunk during that time.... Needless to say i spend a good few hours detecting the area which was very small... I hod no results in finding it (found a crossbow bolt that her husband lost though).


The only reasons i think i might not have found it is she lose it elsewhere, a raven took it, or the kids took it
 
I've had mixed results hunting for specifically lost items. I have driven several hours to help on several occasions with no joy. I think in several cases screening or foot shuffling might have worked on the beach. I suggested a bright light at night for some grass hunts. I worked several hours at a famous hotel where a maintenance worker lost his wedding ring on the lawn. He called almost a week later, one of the other workers found his ring in a sprinkler box!
 
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