Deck-worthy Dinners – Grandma Sparhawk’s Marinated Pork Loin
A great recipe is something to be treasured, and this one is no exception. You'll love this simple, easy to prepare family recipe from Grandma Sparhawk. I prefer this fresh off the grill, but it's pretty awesome when baked in the oven. Ingredients: 3/4 cup salad or vegetable oil 6 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon dry mustard 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 1/2 tablespoons course ground pepper 1/4 cup wine vinegar 3/4 teaspoon dried parsley 1 table spoon crushed garlic 2 1/4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice Directions: Marinate 24 hours in refrigerator. On grill: Cook on hot grill for 15 minutes or until your preferred degree of doneness. You may want to turn and brush on more marinade as it cooks. In oven: Bake tenderloins in broiler pan for 30 minutes at 350° F. Enjoy!
Shovelin’ A Winter Wonderland
How to Shovel Like a Pro In the U.S., some 100 people die shoveling snow every year. But that’s not a recent development. According to studies conducted at the U.S. Nationwide Children’s Hospital, there were over 1,600 cardiac-related snow shoveling fatalities from 1990 to 2006. When people shovel snow, the increase in heart rate and blood pressure, in conjunction with cold air that constricts arteries and blood supply, makes for ideal heart attack conditions. To keep you and your family safe this winter, consider some of these snow shoveling guidelines. For areas affected most heavily, a snow blower might be the best way to go, though they do come with their own risks. This winter, take the proper measures to ensure maximum safety. But remember: A pristine driveway is not worth your life! Do: Push the snow rather than lift it. Lifting wet, heavy snow over the shoulders can surge the heart rate to dangerous levels. Use the right shovel. A plastic shovel with a curved handle will keep your back straight and be lighter altogether.[...]
We’re On Social Media!
Being an old-school company, it has taken us a bit longer to catch up with technology. In an effort to reach our current and potential customers in this highly digital era, you can now find DeckTec on many of your favorite social media platforms. We’ve helped over 3,000 customers reach new heights in outdoor living. Now, help us reach new heights on social media by following or liking our page! Check any of our online pages for special offers, opportunities, stories, and more!
DeckTec to The Future
Welcome to the first edition of DeckTec Lifestyle, a newsletter designed to bring you the best ideas in outdoor living. We’ll be reaching out nine times each year to bring you new products, services, and information for enhancing your outdoor living experience. We think you’ll enjoy learning more about DeckTec Outdoor Design as a company, as well as recent news and trends in outdoor living. In this edition, we would like to share a brief glimpse into how I got my start in the custom deck and outdoor living field. Over 25 years, outdoor living has evolved and become much more sophisticated. In recent years, it has become to one of the highest returning home improvement investments you can make. With that, new opportunities have arisen to integrate cutting-edge technologies, social media, and more. We have also grown, gaining valuable team members that demonstrate the capacity to take challenges head on, and we are excited to introduce them to you as part of this newsletter.
Happy Holiday Season from Decktec
Thank you to all our friends in the DeckTec community for another great year of Outdoor Living at its finest. We have enjoyed every minute of deck design, construction, and maintenance with you, and have appreciated your readership of this blog on the art of outdoor living. DeckTec Blog Change Coming And speaking of blogs, recently DeckTec had the opportunity to review responses to the content for this site. What our statistics show is that you seem most interested in the care and construction of wood decks. So with that in mind, the format for the Outdoor Experiences blog is undergoing a small change. Starting immediately, we at DeckTec will be posting once a month, instead of each week. This will allow us to do a better job of giving you the kinds of in-depth stories and information you can put to good use in the care of your own deck. We’ll cover everything from selecting the best stain for your wood to planning and budgeting for new projects in your back yard. We’ll compare redwood[...]
Get Sweeping!
DeckTec’s Adam Guilford talks about taking care of your snowy deck. The man in the parking lot wrapped his coat tighter and called out, “It’s too cold today.” While indeed the weather was cloudy, temperatures that day were in the high 30’s. Wonder what he’ll do when the real cold of Colorado’s winters hit. And snow. And ice. Colorado winters can indeed be harsh, not only on you, but on your deck as well. Our snowfalls can occur any time during approximately eight months of the year. And when the risk of snow stops, you can often be hit by hail, as the residents of southeast Denver found in late September this year. DeckTec’s Adam Guilford said, “With the bigger storms, and even the light dustings, you want to get the snow off your deck as soon as possible. Don’t wait for it to partially melt and then re-freeze over night.” Adam, who has been on the DeckTec team for 8 years, is on the front line of customer service, and repeatedly supports homeowner efforts to[...]
A Letter of Thanks
Dear DeckTec Friends, Anyone who has been around me long knows that Thanksgiving time is very special to me. It is the chance to look about and acknowledge the blessings of another good year, the wonderful team I work with and, of course, the terrific people who call themselves DeckTec customers. Blessings of the Year The summer of 2014 was tremendously successful. But we couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks! Here are some of the things that made last season so great: 68 new decks were designed and built for our community. That’s roughly 22372 square feet of decking, over 3000 planks of beautiful redwood, countless deck screws and nails of the highest quality carbon steel being put into those planks, and innumerable smiles of people throughout the metropolitan Denver area. Our maintenance crews cleaned, re-stained, re-painted and repaired 759 decks, ensuring that those decks will support happy families for another year in the deck's twenty-to-thirty year lifetimes. We built 25 new roof covers over existing and new decks. This means that for 25 customers,[...]
Holiday Decorating with Wildlife In Mind
Ready or not, the holiday season is just about upon us once again. Time to enjoy your Thanksgiving turkey and start sending your holiday greeting cards. As you dig your Christmas lights and decorations out of the garage or basement we'd like to remind you, especially if you live in one of our wilderness cities, to take care to decorate with wildlife needs in mind. Colorado Parks and Wildlife public information officer, Jennifer Churchill, said that every year the situation happens where a member of our wildlife community gets caught in tennis or soccer nets, or sometimes a trampoline, and often our larger deer and elk get tangled in holiday lights. When we watch these "adventures" on YouTube, they can seem quite funny, but in reality, such episodes often result in broken limbs and even death. "Last year, there was an elk calf caught in a trampoline in Evergreen," said Jennifer. "If you watch the video you'll see that its legs kept slipping out from under it. Eventually, the elk got out, but this kind of[...]
Ready, Set, Holiday Shopping Begins!
Often during the holiday season we have more people on our shopping lists than dollars in our budget. Isn't there a considerate way to say, "you're important to me," without spending like we've just won the lottery? And what about gifting to all those friends who deserve more than a card, but who don't need a big present? Whether you're planning a thoughtful Thanksgiving or big holiday event, the Arbor Day Foundation has a great way to acknowledge your friends and family with a wonderful, low-cost, high value gift—a tree. Sarah Beckius of Arbor Day Foundation Member Services, says that many people buy beautiful cards from the Foundation each year, and in return the Foundation plants a tree in national forests throughout the country in honor of the friends you care for. "I feel proudest of working here," said Sarah, "when I talk to members who have been with the Foundation for as much as 30 years. I talked to someone recently who has been a member since 1985." She said that people return to the[...]
It’s About Time
Daylight Savings Time Ends If you've been out late trick-or-treating, don't worry. This is the weekend to re-energize from your Halloween parties, and enjoy a little extra snooze. Daylight savings officially ends at 2:00 Sunday morning (November 2, 2014), so you'll want to reset your clocks to an hour earlier Saturday before falling back into bed. An hour extra sleep is yours. And for your trivia file, did you know Daylight Savings (DST) was first observed in the United States as part of the World War I? Yes, although designed in concept by Ben Franklin, it was first implemented during the war as an effort to reduce energy use by making better use of summer's longer daylight hours. DST was dropped after that war, but reinstated by President Franklin Roosevelt in World War II, where it became known as "War Time." Generally speaking, Daylight Savings Time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. This schedule has been in place since 2007 following the Energy Policy Act of 2005.[...]
Recent Works
