Found

So as you know I was gone all this week to Santa Fe for the conference.  Dustin is such a trooper, he had the week from hell while I was gone and managed to keep it all together.  He had a huge project going at work that had to be done this week.  They got a bunch of equipment to do a drill seeding project, that is where seeds are planted by drilling them into the ground instead of plowing it up first.  They were planting a variety of native seeds to help improve the area for wildlife and livestock grazing.

The first bad thing to happen was he was supposed to have a crew of four to assist him, but one of his assistants is 20 weeks pregnant, so limited on what she can do, another guy who he was counting on to be a big help, and a lady from the other agency sponsoring the work.  Early in the week the guy pulled a muscle in his back and is now out on sick leave, so that put more of the work back on Dustin's shoulders.  On Wednesday he went out by himself to try and complete the work.  One of the tasks also included throwing out by hand a certain type of seed that cannot be drill seeded.  He started throwing it out with his right hand, but eventually got tired so he switched to his left hand.  Part way in he thought about the fact that his wedding ring was fitting a little loose lately and decided to take it off.  When he went to do that he saw that it was already gone, he flung it out with the seed!

He of course was devastated, and trying to come up with a plan to find it ASAP, like by this Saturday since we are leaving on Sunday and there is a good chance a big snow will set in up there and cover the area until next spring.  He had a field trip already planned for Thursday, so could not search then.  Friday he got a metal detector and set out hoping to find it quickly.  The search was not going so well and he was getting to the point that he needed to work on wrapping up his equipment and head back to town.  Then one of the District Archaeologists, who is also a good friend of ours, showed up to finish up her part of the project.  She asked if Dustin found the ring yet and he said no, but he would come back on Saturday to look.  She said she wanted to look around a bit, so he showed her the area.  Now as you  may, or may not know, Archaeologists are trained to look for small human artifacts on the ground, so it's no wonder that eagle eyes was able to spot it!!!  We owe her big time, I am still amazed that she found it!