Roller Skating and Skate Keys: A Nostalgic Blast from the Past

Roller skating has been a beloved pastime enjoyed by generations of kids and adults alike. It’s hard to believe that the first use of roller skates was in a London stage performance way back in 1743!

John Joseph Merlin, a London resident in 1760, deserves the credit for inventing the first skates. Roller skates have certainly come a long way since then!

In the United States, roller skating gained popularity as a pastime in 1935. But it wasn’t until the introduction of skating rinks playing disco music in the 1970s that roller skating became a huge trend. It seemed like everyone wanted to hit the rinks and groove to the music!

Speaking of roller skating, let’s take a trip down memory lane. Do you remember those heavy metal skates that you could attach to your shoes? They were quite the fashion statement back in the day. But there’s something else that you might remember if you were a skater before the 1970s – the iconic skate key.

This copper-colored object was an essential accessory for anyone with roller skates. At first glance, it may look like a bottle opener or some kind of tool, but it is actually a skate key. With the skate key, you could adjust the size of your skates by fitting it into the back of the pair. And to make sure they didn’t get lost while skating, most people wore the key around their necks. It was a small but significant part of the roller skating experience.

Skate keys were such an integral part of roller skating that there have even been songs written about them! They symbolize a time when roller skating was a cherished activity, filled with fun and memories.

So, do you remember skate keys? We’d love to hear your skating stories on our Facebook page. Let’s share this delightful blast from the past with others who may have fond memories of roller skating and skate keys too!

A Handy Solution for Dealing with Earwigs at Home

Although most of us can live without some creepy crawlies, we have all encountered bugs in our houses at some point.If you reside in a rural region, you are undoubtedly accustomed to insects like ants, spiders, flies, and others trying to get inside your house in the summer and beyond. These bug guests don’t disturb some people, but others don’t think they’re very welcome. In my opinion, neither spiders nor sporadic flies worry me when they weave their webs in the corners of the room. Earwigs are one insect, nevertheless, that I don’t like.

Despite their diminutive size, earwigs are not cute at all. Despite their appearance of having a painful bite or sting, they are not harmful. Even though earwigs are harmless, most people don’t want a swarm of them scuttling around their houses. I therefore found a certain trick for handling them to be quite helpful.

A shallow bowl filled with olive oil

Facebook user Alicia Alexander suggests that the best way to catch earwigs is to put a shallow dish outside on your deck or in your backyard filled with half a cup of olive oil. Earwigs are drawn to the delicious scent of olive oil, and once they enter the bowl, they cannot escape. According to Alicia, the bowl managed to gather a sizable number of earwigs in less than a day.

Please review the image below:

A shallow bowl filled with trapped earwigs (after less than 24 hours)

And the same bowl became considerably fuller after 36 hours.

A shallow bowl filled with trapped earwigs (after 36 hours)

Because earwigs are drawn to the sweetness of olive oil, you can efficiently deal with an earwig infestation in your home by using this technique!

Not to scare you, but if you find an extraordinary amount of earwigs in your house, it may be a sign that there are issues with rotting wood. Many insects are drawn to decaying wood, including earwigs, so it’s important to inspect any wooden structures you may have at home.

It’s not alarming, though, if earwigs are looking for warmer circumstances within your home. It’s quite natural, and you won’t likely feel any impact at all from their presence.

Have you heard about this easy method for eliminating earwigs? Tell us in the comments below!

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