I hardly know where to begin. This project is a complete nightmare, but the house is wonderful.

We did not hit our move in date of November 2006, nor the move in date of Christmas 2006. we did not hit the move in date of February 2007, nor the move in date of May/June 2007.

Plumbing Nightmare:

We have heard many rumours of the house being haunted by the ghost of the most well known of its prior residents, John Ballard. Supposedly Mr. Ballard walks around, closes doors, plays the violin, and makes rare ghostly appearances at night. We have not seen or heard any sign of him. Perhaps he decided to stay at the propery where the house was originally located since he is supposedly buried there.

Nooitgedacht Journal Late November.

This journal is kept for me to have a record of what is going on. I am putting it on the website because some friends and family members may be interested in reading it. To most other people, it will be interminably boring. Others are welcome to read it, but do not blame me if you are bored to death.

Sunday - Friday (November 13 -17).

     I was in California all week. I tried to stay in touch with the contractor by telephone, but I was in meetings and depositions almost all day, every day. I had to find an alternate supplier for the fireplace, they said that they could not ship it until December 8. The new supplier has a fireplace in Flint, Michigan and can ship it in a few days. It should arrive Friday, or Monday. I also had to find a supplier for tile, shower valves and some other items. I worked by telephone on getting the water tap approved and the grading done. I also had several conversations with the HVAC contractor to figure out options and when they could start. For a slumping economy, Michigan contractors sure are busy.

     Everyone who buys an historic home dreams of finding some ancient treasure in the walls, attic, or under a floorboard.  It is very rare for this to actually happen.  We did not find any treasure in the pecuniary sense, but we did find some historic bits stuffed in the house here and there.  Behind the baseboards in the office we found a 1952 silver dime and a 1950 ten Cent piece from the Netherlands.  this is interesting since the house was ponce called "Noitgedacht" a Dutch name meaning "who would have thought it?"  or never would have thought"  (translated by us to "Don't think about it"  or "Just do it without thinking" - an appropriate motto for this project). 

The Grosse Ile Hisotrical Society is having an event to watch the HGTV show.  Sunday, November 19, 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the Grosse Ile Yacht Club.  $15.00 per person incluldes appetizers and admission.  Cash bar.  The show is on at 8:00 p.m. A big screen TV will be set up somewhere. we will be there (eventually - Barry is taking a deposition in Arizona on Saturday and flying back to Michigan on Sunday arriving at 5:30 p.m. Hopefully in time to make it to the party from the airport).      

We were beginning to loose our enthusiasm for this project.  Costs were skyrocketing and forcing us to make cuts that we did not want to make.  Progress was slow or seemingly non-existent.  More and more portions of the existing house had to be removed and replaced.  Subcontractors did not ever show up when they said they would (not once).  Most of the time, the work crews were skeletal at best.  It seemed like everyone’s sole goal in life was to tell us all the reasons that we could not do anything that we planned to do (rather than helping us to find a way to do it).  I got so sick and tired of arguing with people who are supposed to be helping us, and/or addressing petty disputes between workers, that I wanted to throw everyone in the river and throw the house in with them.  It simply would not stop raining and every storm caused more damage to the house.  Finally, it reached the point where we wished that we had not undertaken this project . . . then it passed that point. . .  then things got worse.  I wanted out of this mess in the worst way. 

Here are the links to 3D satellite views of the location before the move and the location it was moved to.  

   Here is the house in its original location . Scroll all the way East to the river, the house is just south of Church road.  It is the house with the blue tarp on the roof. This was before the move (winter 2005-2006).  Here is the location where it was moved to

NOVEMBER 19 2006 SUNDAY.  8 P.M. EASTERN TIME.  SHOWS AGAIN AT MIDNIGHT.  POTENTIALLY SUBJECT TO CHANGE CHECK HGTV WEBSITE TO CONFIRM. 

The show is now officially called “Haulin House.” It is tenatively scheduled to air right after "House Hunters" on Sunday night. Haulin House is suposed to premier November 5, 2006.  The show on our house will probably be shown in early December."

The dates and time may change, but the show will start in early November, with the episode on our house sometime in December.