The calendar and the temperatures may indicate were smack in the middle of winter, but its never to early to dream about upcoming spring home and garden projects.

On Feb. 8-9, Conroe-area residents will be able to feed those visions at the inaugural Lake Conroe Home and Garden Show at the Lone Star Convention Center in Conroe.

The show is being produced by Robyn and Jeff Cade, owners of RJC Productions which produces home shows in other areas of Houston including the Katy Home and Garden Show taking place this weekend.

They plan to take over the 56,000 square-foot Lone Star Convention Center and dedicate the entire space to home improvement, decorating and interior design and gardening.

The show promises more than 200 displays in home decorating, remodeling, landscaping, home decor and outdoor and garden products. There will also be how to seminars, expert consultations and product demonstrations.

Leslie Sarmiento, principal designer with Decorating Den Interiors, will be featured at the show in Booth No. 803.

Sarmiento doesnt have a store front for her design business so she said she always likes to take advantage of opportunities like to this local home show to have her own show room, even for a limited time, so visitors can see what she has to offer.

Although shes based in the Conroe area, her services are not limited to Conroe.

Sarmiento works with her clients by traveling to their home and giving a free consultation on the first visit. Then she can assist with everything from window treatments to furniture to accessories and wallpaper and lighting.

On her website, lesliesarmiento.com, she has an area to check out the 2014 Color of the Year.

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Feed home and garden dreams at debut Lake Conroe Home and Garden Show

PITTSFIELD John Weinhold, 62, of Pittsfield, passed away at home early Thursday morning, Jan. 23, 2014, following a brief illness.

John was born March 20, 1951, in Hampton, a son of Charles A. and Elizabeth (Johnson) Weinhold. He graduated from Winnacunnet High School and attended Plymouth State College.

John began his career as an electrician with Rockingham Electric. Later he became a manager with Ralph Pill, where he stayed for more than 25 years before moving into sales with Consolidated Electrical Distributors. It was at CED where he spent the last three years.

John loved to be outdoors and reveled in time spent mowing the lawn, caring for his home and tending to his vast vegetable gardens. Described as a kind, gentle, compassionate man, John found the greatest joy in time with family; from large gatherings to simple one-on-one chats, he cherished time spent with his loved ones.

John is survived by the love of his life, best friend and wife of 30 years, Pam Weinhold; brothers Bill, Chuck, Bob and Peter Weinhold; and numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.

SERVICES: The family will receive visitors from 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28, at Phaneuf Funeral Home & Crematorium, 243 Hanover St., Manchester. A memorial service will follow immediately in the funeral home chapel. Donations in John's memory may be made to the Concord/Merrimack Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 130 Washington St., Penacook, NH 03303; http://www.concordspca.org. Phaneuf Funeral Homes & Crematorium, Boscawen office, is assisting the family with arrangements. To view an online memorial, visit http://www.phaneuf.net.

You may leave your condolences or share memories by signing the Guest Book here

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John Weinhold

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Yves here. Im featuring this post in part as a development exercise to Cliff, a German economist who has been blogging off and on since 2011 and plans to post on a more consistent basis. He has been warned that the NC readership can be rough.

Im also of two minds about his argument. Initially I recoiled, because I think the personal service economy in the US has gone too far in some respects. To put it more precisely, the stratification of income has led to growth of the personal service economy, which serves to reinforce class distinctions. And Cliff takes up the fallacy that activities that are included in GDP are somehow better than if they occur outside the transaction economy. Vam Gogh sold only one painting over his entire life. Does that mean his output was worthless? Oh I guess it wasnt only because now auction houses make ginormous amounts from his work. But per this logic, paintings that are traded often are more valuable than ones that are displayed in museums or are owned by collectors for a long time.

Married women with kids who work in professional jobs (unless theyve managed to get a work at home gig, and I know all of one person who had that work well) are typically dependent on personal service workers, as in they need nannies (or at least some sort of part-time child care arrangement even if the kids are in school) and house cleaning. The big reason is the hours arent predictable and they often have husbands who have similar long work days. But that sort of efficiency leads to greater instability. I dont know how many times my friends have come unglued when something happens to their nanny (illness, death of parent, or they turn out to be bad news and need to be fired). Its really hard for them to manage while they are finding a replacement and difficult to find good caregivers.

And youve got the second-order problem identified by Elizabeth Warren in the Two Income Trap: having wives work means you dont have a reserve worker in case something happens to the (presumably higher income primary worker) spouses job. And two income households have higher fixed expenses (the biggie is two cars, although that would probably not be the case in Germany, where public transportation is good in big cities) but they also per above need to spend more on services, thus making it harder to save).

But the flip side is that there is rampant unemployment throughout Europe, with emigration from periphery Europe to the north in search of jobs. It would be vastly better if the surplus countries abandoned their demands for austerity. Economists have argued as a next-best that northern countries will start putting more operations in the South as their wage levels fall. But that wont provide relief any time soon. So perversely, more use by Germans of personal service workers would take up some labor slack at a time when jobs are in desperately short supply. But that seems a poor fallback to failed policies.

By Cliff, a German economist specializing in financial and macroeconomic policy analysis. Originally published at Cliffeconomics

Mowing the lawn appears to be a common pastime for Germans. Washing the car or ironing even makes it into a listing of ways to burn calories in a recent issue of the news magazine Focus. Does this make sense, economically?

Home production, i.e. productive non-market activities, are not captured in the national accounts. Time use surveys, such as the one carried out in Germany in 2001/02, show that adult Germans spend 25 hours per week on unpaid work, more than paid work on average.

Macroeconomic indicators may be reminiscent of the extent of home production in Germany. Labor participation, particularly among women, is low, possibly on the account of home keepers and stay-home mothers. Work hours have traditionally been lower, providing at least more opportunity to engage in home production also for those in jobs. These indicators distinguish Germany in particular from the US, where consumers are perceived to rather pay than doing stuff themselves. (For disclosure, Cliff uses dry cleaners, car washing, but doesnt have a lawn to mow.)

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Why Germans Should Stop Mowing Their Own Lawn

WEST SACRAMENTO-

It aint easy being green, especially for lawns during a drought.

Thats where lawn painters like David Bartlett come in. His business, Xtreme Green Grass will dye your lawn green in a time when homeowners must conserve water.

People like nice yards, you know? They like to sit out front and have their coffee and tea and look at green grass, Bartlett said. Its the American dream.

Normally, business is a little slow for Bartlett.

We would probably do 10 yards a month. Now, were triple that. We probably do one or two jobs every day, he said.

The dye Bartlett sprays on lawns generally lasts around six months with regular mowing.

Some may think the idea of painting your grass green is silly, but West Sacramento Environmental Services Manager Paulina Benner doesnt think so.

It makes sense that people would do that, Benner told FOX40.

Benner notes that there are also better options than dye, like fixing leaky spigots or planting drought-tolerant grass.

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During Drought, Business Booms for Grass Painters

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Published: Friday, Jan. 17, 2014, 8:57p.m. Updated 1 hour ago

Democrats plan to disparage income inequality and the wealth gap for political gain in this year's elections. Most of what's said about income inequality is stupid or, at best, ill-informed. Let's look at it.

Income is a result of something. As such, results alone cannot establish whether there is fairness or justice.

Suppose Tom, Dick and Harry play a weekly game of poker. The result is: Tom wins 75 percent of the time. Dick and Harry, respectively, win 15 percent and 10 percent of the time. Knowing only the game's result permits us to say absolutely nothing as to whether there has been poker fairness or justice. Tom's disproportionate winnings are consistent with his being either an astute player or a clever cheater.

To determine whether there has been poker justice, the game's process must be examined. Process questions we might ask are: Were the cards unmarked? Were the cards dealt from the top of the deck? And did the players play voluntarily? If these questions yield affirmative answers, there was poker fairness and justice, regardless of the game's result, even with Tom's winning 75 percent of the time.

In a free society, for the most part, income is a result of one's capacity to serve his fellow man and the value his fellow man places on that service. Say I mow your lawn and you pay me $50. That $50 might be seen as a certificate of performance.

Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are multibillionaires. Just as in the case of my serving my fellow man by mowing his lawn, they served their fellow man. The difference is they served many more of their fellow men and did so far more effectively than I and hence have received many more certificates of performance, which enables them to make greater claims on what their fellow man produces, such as big houses, cars and jets.

Brin and Page and people like them created wealth by producing services that improve the lives of millions upon millions of people all around the globe. Should Congress confiscate part of their wealth in the name of fairness and income redistribution?

Except in many instances when government rigs the game with crony capitalism, income is mostly a result of one's productivity and the value that people place on that productivity. Far more important than income inequality is productivity inequality. That suggests that if there's anything to be done about income inequality, we should focus on how to give people greater capacity to serve their fellow man, namely raise their productivity.

Becoming a taxicab owner-operator lies within the grasp of many. But in New York City, one must be able to get a license (medallion), which costs $700,000. There are hundreds of examples of government restrictions that reduce opportunity. Think back to my poker example. If one is concerned about the game's result, which option is more just: taking some of Tom's winnings and redistributing them to Dick and Harry or teaching Dick and Harry how to play better?

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Income ‘inequality’: It’s in the cards

Democrats plan to demagogue income inequality and the wealth gap for political gain in this years elections. Most of whats said about income inequality is stupid or, at best, ill-informed. Much to their disgrace, economists focusing on measures of income inequality bring little light to the issue. Lets look at it.

Income is a result of something. As such, results alone cannot establish whether there is fairness or justice. Take a simple example to make the point. Suppose Tom, Dick and Harry play a weekly game of poker. The result is: Tom wins 75 percent of the time. Dick and Harry, respectively, win 15 percent and 10 percent of the time. Knowing only the games result permits us to say absolutely nothing as to whether there has been poker fairness or justice. Toms disproportionate winnings are consistent with his being either an astute player or a clever cheater.

To determine whether there has been poker justice, the games process must be examined. Process questions we might ask are: Were Hoyles rules obeyed; were the cards unmarked; were the cards dealt from the top of the deck; and did the players play voluntarily? If these questions yield affirmative answers, there was poker fairness and justice, regardless of the games result, even with Toms winning 75 percent of the time.

Similarly, income is a result of something. In a free society, for the most part, income is a result of ones capacity to serve his fellow man and the value his fellow man places on that service.

Say I mow your lawn and you pay me $50. That $50 might be seen as a certificate of performance. Why? It serves as evidence that I served my fellow man and enables me to make a claim on what he produces when I visit the grocer.

Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are multibillionaires. Just as in the case of my serving my fellow man by mowing his lawn, they served their fellow man. The difference is they served many more of their fellow men and did so far more effectively than I and hence have received many more certificates of performance, which enables them to make greater claims on what their fellow man produces, such as big houses, cars and jets.

Brin and Page and people like them created wealth by producing services that improve the lives of millions upon millions of people all around the globe. Should people who have improved our lives be held up to ridicule and scorn because they have higher income than most of us? Should Congress confiscate part of their wealth in the name of fairness and income redistribution?

Except in many instances when government rigs the game with crony capitalism, income is mostly a result of ones productivity and the value that people place on that productivity. Far more important than income inequality is productivity inequality. That suggests that if theres anything to be done about income inequality, we should focus on how to give people greater capacity to serve their fellow man, namely raise their productivity.

To accomplish that goal, lets look at a few things that we shouldnt do. Becoming a taxicab owner-operator lies within the grasp of many, but in New York City, one must be able to get a license (medallion), which costs $700,000. There are hundreds of examples of government restrictions that reduce opportunity.

What about the grossly fraudulent education received by so many minority youngsters? And then we handicap them further with laws that mandate that businesses pay them wages that exceed their productivity, which denies them on-the-job training.

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Income inequality

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