Beach Days, Hot Dogs, Fireworks, America

Happy Fourth of July! A lot of people took today off. If you’re not one of them, don’t sweat it. We got you. Just a few more hours until some sweet holiday freedom. Dwindle away some of those remaining minutes by escaping with us to our version of Monday morning on the beach. We’ll help tide you over until you’re actually chillin’ in the sand or firing up the grill.

America!

Wishing you a Fourth under the fireworks that rivals the one from The Sandlot. What a scene! Oh, and try not to lose any appendages out there. We want you back here next week, digits intact.

When life gives you lemons, look to the kids. Kids have all sorts of screens, devices, and apps these days, but fear not, the lemonade stand remains an unwavering bastion of childhood. I remember setting one up as a kid, only to be asked by a wise-cracking adult if I had a permit. Not recognizing the idiotic “joke”, I immediately folded under the pressure of the inevitable and imminent police arrival.

Fortunately, the Pacheco twins of Westport, CT have much more gumption, putting a lemonade stand to incredible use last weekend. Greycen and Grant Pacheco hosted a stand to support their close friend, Ramona Lopes, who has Down syndrome. Half the profits would be dedicated to Mona’s inclusion in activities of her choice.

The twins hoped to make $1,000 in total. Over five hours, they raised $5,021, with some enthusiastic patrons spending $50 or even $100 on a cup of lemonade. Long live the lemonade stand! We’d all be better off if we kept the spirit and kindness of that age alive for a greater portion of our lives.

If you see a stand over the holiday, pull over and buy some lemonade. Nothing more American than that. [The Herald News]

An apology can knock your socks off. We all make mistakes, especially during the rough patches in our lives. It’s what you learn and how you improve that ultimately defines your character, though. One remorseful sock thief delivered a masterclass in those steps, with his apology letter to a ski shop going viral last week.

Apparently, he also included $60 with the note as reimbursement. The store may not have even missed the socks, but this person wasn’t content with what the act said about them. It’s never too late to make amends, to right wrongs, and to show your humanity, both bad…and then really good.

Also, it’s a better apology than the one the guys gave in The Hangover when they stole a cop car. “Couldn’t find a meter, but here’s five bucks.” [Powder]

The gift that keeps on giving. While maybe it’s best not to sink a lot of funds into lotteries, who can deny the fun of receiving a few scratch tickets in a card or to commemorate an occasion? Lance Wall of Washington graduated high school recently, and his dad decided to buy him a scratch ticket on a whim as a fun celebration of the milestone.

Wall’s first ever ticket was a winner. That $20 gift became a $50,000 windfall. What a moment for the Walls and what a way to start life after high school! [WSAZ]

We could use a break. If you’ve been in the market for a car lately, you know it’s pretty hellish out there. Well really, if you’ve been in the market for pretty much anything lately, you know it’s a brutal pricing environment. Thanks a lot inflation!

Well, some good news is on the way. In the first half of June, wholesale car auction prices - the prices dealers pay for inventory - were down 9.4% from last year. Usually, that means price declines follow for consumers in 6-8 weeks.

So if you can be patient, you just might be rewarded with a brand new car! Okay fine, not a brand new car!, but a nice, used one that suits your lifestyle at a better price. Let’s go, start your engines! We’ll take any pricing win we can get.

The power of a $2 favor. We’ve all been there. The stand is cash only. Or the card reader is broken, but you’re on the hook for payment. Or your card is inexplicably declined. If you’re lucky, in those uncomfortable and awkward moments, a stranger comes to your rescue, freeing you from the shackles of cringe.

For Richard Montgomery, it was a broken card reader at a parking lot. Fortunately, a lovely lady recognized that he needed to catch up with his family and quickly spotted him the £2. In fact, she insisted upon the “random act of kindness.”

Montgomery went to get change to pay her back, but couldn’t find her upon his return. So, how do you repay the act? Montgomery was inspired, running the Norwich Triathlon to raise money for Thames Valley Air Ambulance, an organization which had aided a man in his neighborhood.

That £2 gesture became £500 raised that otherwise wouldn’t have been. Think about the return on investment for a two buck act of kindness. You never know how a small offer of help might snowball into something much greater. [Henley Standard]

The year is 1985. Tomorrow is the 4th of July, which means you have a day off. Let’s do something fun.

First, a stop at the mall…duh. After a quick visit to the food court for some Orange Julius, it’s off to the movie theater. There’s a movie that came out today, looks like it could be a fun one. Back to the Future.

MARTY MCFLY: Doc, I have to tell you about the future!

DOC BROWN: No Marty!

MARTYY MCFLY: Forty years from now, most malls will be abandoned and nobody will go to the movies anymore. Except to see Tom Cruise movies.

DOC BROWN: Great Scott! The kid from Risky Business?!

When Texas pastor Heath Haynes heard his neighbor Sharon Koehn yelling for help, he thought Koehn’s 85 year-old husband Earl, who has dementia, might be having a medical emergency.

As it turns out, he was being attacked by an intruder.

As the suspect tried to steal the Koehn’s pickup truck, Haynes tried to stop him, containing him, and even managing to hold him down at one point. Heath’s wife Amber called the police as he continued to try to contain the situation. The suspect eventually escaped in the pickup but was apprehended quickly by police, likely thanks in part to Haynes’ actions in delaying his exit.

There are still some awesome neighbors out there - hope we’re all lucky enough to have one like Heath Haynes.

He’s on fire! I’m not sure why anyone would choose to attempt this, but one French firefighter-turned-stuntman did. He set the Guinness World Record for the fastest “full body burn”, covering 100 meters in 17 seconds. He also ran the longest distance, covering 272 meters in total.

Who needs 23 days of the Tour de France when you can just light yourself on fire for 17 seconds?

We can’t emphasize this enough: do not recreate this feat by accident due to grilling or fireworks tomorrow. Leave the Human Torch act to Jonathan Vero. Congrats on the record!

Goodness gracious, great-granny’s yoked. Down under in Australia, Toni Wolfe rewrote the Global Powerlifting Committee world record books. Oh, did we mention she’s a 71 year old great-grandmother? Wolfe squatted 80kg (176 pounds), benched 80kg (176 pounds), and deadlifted 145kg (320 pounds), the latter two lifts establishing records for her age group and weight class.

Wolfe started lifting forty years ago as a mother of four. It goes to show where a positive habit can lead when practiced consistently for a really long time. World records. World championships. A healthy and fit lifestyle. Or….just putting the high school boys in your local gym to shame.

Those muscle shirts don’t seem so sweet when Toni rolls into the gym and puts up more weight than you on bench, do they fellas? I kid, you guys. Keep at it, just don’t mess with Toni.

Weightless in Norway. If you feel like you haven’t left your mark in life, and Toni’s achievements aren’t enough evidence that you have decades left to do it, here’s some more. A 102 year old Norwegian man recently became the oldest person to fly in a wind tunnel. 102! My man is out here FLYING, putting Charlie’s grandparents from Willy Wonka to absolute shame. Get out of bed! Lots of life left to live.

@tvpworld.com

A 102-year old veteran is now the oldest person to ever fly in a wind tunnel!! 💨 #windtunnel #veteran #old #dreams

Never too late to get up and down. In the early-to-mid 2010s, Rickie Fowler and Keegan Bradley were fixtures in American cup teams and near the top of the World Golf Rankings. And then, things went south.

The belly putter was banned, erasing years of well-learned green feel for Bradley. He finished 2014 as the 28th best golfer in the world. By the end of 2016, he was 108th.

Fowler tinkered with his swing and totally lost his way. He was once the 4th ranked player in the world. At the end of 2022, he was 103rd, fading from major competition qualification and from the golf-viewing public eye.

No matter just how down and out you can feel, though, there’s always a way to get back on track. You’re always just one great bunker shot from turning things around (that’s metaphorically speaking, of course - for professional golfers, they’d need a lot of those to climb the rankings). We think it’s finally safe to say Bradley and Fowler are back on the green with a look at better days ahead.

Bradley worked out his putting issues in recent years, while Fowler reunited with his former swing coach Butch Harmon. The results are speaking volumes about their resilience.

Bradley has worked his way back to a #18 ranking, winning last week’s Travelers Championship in Connecticut, a special feat for a New Englander. He also “stole” the trophy, recognizing his mistake as only a Masshole could.

Fowler forced a playoff in dramatic fashion at this weekend’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, ultimately capturing the victory, his first since 2019. In 2023, he’s played 16 events, finishing in the top 10 six times. Look at what it means to him to top the leaderboard for the first time in 4 years!

It looks like there’s a real shot we could see Keegan and Rickie on this year’s Ryder Cup team, just as we all predicted back in 2013. If you like a good comeback - and who doesn’t - golf is serving up some seriously feel good stories the last few weeks.

Like riding a bike. Speaking of comebacks, American cyclist Chloe Dygert’s triumphs at the U.S. Championships in both the time trial and the road race are about as good as it gets. Back at the 2020 World Championships, Dygert was in a gruesome crash that caused career-threatening injuries to her left leg. As if that wasn’t enough, after those surgeries and related recovery, she spent most of last season on the sidelines thanks to an abnormal heart rate and Epstein-barr virus.

That’s a ROUGH couple of years.

Apparently, it’s going to take a lot more than that to stop Dygert. She’s back on the bike and back on top of the sport in America. Next stop? The world championships in Scotland, where she’ll be among the favorites in the time trial.

In men’s cycling, look at how glorious Quinn Simmons looks in the American Champion’s jersey at the Tour de France. Oh and his compatriot, Neilson Powless? He currently leads the King of the Mountains competition.

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!