Colorado Life Archives - DeckTec Outdoor Designs

Going for the Green

March 21st, 2022|Colorado Life|

Colorado is known for the green. It's all over Denver! You can smell it everywhere! Not to mention, GASP!, the suburbs too! People come from all over to try a bowl. Most people swear by it with a burrito, or the stickiest-ickyest cheese fries. Drool. Some make the mistake of eating too much of it, so they lock themselves in their bathroom for hours. Wait! No! I'm not talking about that! I'm talking about CHILI! Colorado Green Chili! We have high standards when it comes to green chili. So we set out to list some of the best places to load a bowl or roll up in a tortilla. Check out our list and tell us your favorite place to go for the green chili in Colorado. Top Rated Green Chili Sauces in the Denver Area El Taco de Mexico, Santa Fe Art District Efrain’s Mexican Restaurant and Cantina, Boulder [...]

We Demand S’more!

August 25th, 2021|Blog, Colorado Life, Life On Deck, Outdoor Recipes|

Warm, gooey, crunchy s’mores are staples of camping trips and backyard BBQs stretching decades. Early recipes of the campfire treat first appeared in Boy and Girl Scout publications in the 1920s. Over time the unique blend of flavors has been incorporated into everything from pop tarts, ice cream, craft beer, even English muffins! Today, classic s’mores are having a bit of a pop-culture moment, spurred on by a renewed interest in getting outdoors. The combination of toasted marshmallow and chocolate smooshed between graham crackers is cherished not only for its simplicity but as a national comfort food designed to get scarfed down with friends around a glowing open flame. Despite an almost universal recognition as the ultimate campfire snack, I am always left wondering, is there anything s’more to s’mores? I mean, is chocolate, graham cracker, and toasted marshmallow the best we can do? I say, “No!” We’ve seriously underestimated [...]

The Best Time of the Year

August 23rd, 2021|Blog, Colorado Life, Life On Deck|

Those who lament the lack of four full seasons in Colorado must not have a deck. If they were like you, they’d know that Colorado actually has five seasons: winter, spring, summer, fall, and deck season. Guess what approaches? After a cold, snowy winter, historically wet spring, and brutally hot summer we’re now approaching the best time of the year in Colorado. Sure, fall in Colorado is stunning, but sandwiched between the heat and the first snowfall is a season officially sanctioned for Colorado’s outdoor living enthusiasts. When the air to deck wood ration become irresistible. When all of the effort put into the backyard and garden is in full display, and bounty of the summer harvest is in peak quality. Honestly, it’s tough to describe what makes this time of the year so enjoyable. It may be different for everyone, but after a long, hot summer, perhaps its simply [...]

Colorado’s Many Native Bees

August 9th, 2021|Animals Out the Back Door, Blog, Colorado Life, Garden & Lawn Care, Life On Deck|

While everything might be dry and brown down here on the Front Range, our state’s highest location may just now be reaching peak wildflower time. In Colorado, wildflowers often come in three phases and are dependent on moisture and elevation. August through October represents a final opportunity to revel in Colorful Colorado flowers before the white stuff starts flying once more. For many, it’s important to get up and see them before they’re gone, but chances are a variety of our native bee population will beat you there, busily buzzing through mountain meadows – pollinating the flowers in the process. Behold Our Bees! Did you know Colorado has over 900 native species of bees? And none of them make honey. That distinction goes to the Western Honey bee which ironically is a transplant from Europe and originated in Africa and Asia. Though our native bees don’t produce the sweet nectar [...]

A Behind-the-Scenes Peek at Your Red Rocks Seat

April 17th, 2019|Blog, Colorado Life, Outdoor Living|

Here’s a good cocktail-party question for you – What are the seats at Red Rocks made of? Ipe. What??? Read on for the back-story. DeckTec spoke with Tad Bowman, venue director for Red Rocks as well as the Denver Coliseum, to get our valued customers the insider Red Rocks scoop. According to Bowman, the original Red Rocks benches were made from none other than top of the line old-growth clear heart Redwood. Those “hearty” benches were installed when the amphitheater was being built back in the late 1930s and lasted more than half a century before being creatively re-purposed, as you’ll soon see. “The Redwood benches endured the full brunt of rain, snow, and mile high sun. They also at one point had the seat numbers carved into the top. Because of changes in the seating configuration at Red Rocks there was an effort to cover up the tops of [...]