Labor Day: Stick Your Neck Out, Do the Work & Raise a Glass 🐢🇺🇸
Labor Day is a day to recognize the people who build things, fix things, grow things, teach, create, serve, care for others, run businesses, raise families and generally keep the wheels turning.
In other words, it seems like a pretty good day to think about the Turtle Philosophy.
Turtles are bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, fearless and unafraid folk with a fighter pilot attitude. We think clean, have fun a lot, and recognize the fact that you never get anyplace in life worthwhile unless you stick your neck out.
That last part feels especially appropriate on Labor Day.
Almost everything worthwhile comes from somebody being willing to stick their neck out.
Starting a business.
Learning a trade.
Taking a new job.
Building something from scratch.
Mastering a skill.
Helping a neighbor.
Raising a family.
Trying an idea that might fail.
And sometimes simply showing up every day and doing the work when nobody is handing out applause.
Celebrating People Who Know How to Work
That spirit is also why we think the mikeroweWORKS Foundation deserves a Turtle tip of the shell this Labor Day.
Mike Rowe created the foundation to challenge the idea that a four-year college degree is the only respectable route to a good career and to remind America of the tremendous value of skilled labor.
Through its Work Ethic Scholarship Program, the foundation helps people train for in-demand trades including welding, electrical work, plumbing, HVAC, machining, automotive and aviation technology, construction and more. The foundation says it has awarded more than $16 million in work-ethic scholarships since it began.
And here’s something particularly appropriate for Labor Day 2026: mikeroweWORKS says it is awarding $10 million in scholarships this year, with applications currently open for people willing to learn an in-demand skilled trade.
Their S.W.E.A.T. Pledge stands for “Skills & Work Ethic Aren’t Taboo.”
We suspect a Turtle could get behind that.
Work hard. Learn something useful. Take responsibility. Maintain a good attitude.
And when an opportunity comes along?
Stick your neck out.
Learn more, apply for a scholarship or support the work of the foundation: mikeroweWORKS Foundation
But Turtles Also Remember the Other Half
Hard work matters.
But our philosophy doesn’t say:
Think clean and work every waking hour until you fall over.
It says:
Think clean. Have fun a lot.
That’s an important distinction.
Labor Day isn’t only about honoring work. It’s also about enjoying some of the things all that work makes possible—family, friendships, stories, laughter and fellowship.
So as the grill cools, the sun gets lower and Labor Day begins winding down, we offer the adult Turtles a little something from the era when the Turtle Club itself was young.
The Saturn — A 1967 Tiki Classic
California bartender J. “Popo” Galsini created the Saturn in 1967. The unusual gin-based tiki cocktail went on to win the International Bartenders Association World Championship that year.
A tropical cocktail named after the space program, created during the fighter-pilot era and intended to be enjoyed among friends?
Sounds rather Turtlely to us.
Make a Saturn
For one cocktail:
- 1¼ oz. gin
- ½ oz. fresh lemon juice
- ½ oz. passion fruit syrup
- ¼ oz. falernum
- ¼ oz. orgeat
Combine everything with crushed ice and blend until smooth. Pour it into a tiki mug or tall glass. An orange twist, tropical flower—or a cherry encircled with lemon peel like the rings of Saturn—makes a fitting finish.
Then find another Turtle.
Sit down.
Tell a story.
Solve a few of the world’s problems.
Laugh at yourselves.
And enjoy a little fellowship of Turtles as another summer day comes to an end.
Because life needs work worth doing.
It needs people willing to stick their necks out.
And every once in a while, it needs a good tropical cocktail shared among friends.
Happy Labor Day from the Turtle Club.
Think clean.
Have fun a lot.
Stick your neck out.
🐢 Are YOU a Turtle?\
You Bet Your Sweet Ass I Am!
Master Imperial Turtle Dave
