Homeland security and water plant

Hey Guys!
I have a quick question that im struggling to find an answer for. can you take a plant that has developed roots in soil and replant it in water or would I have to wait until it gets large enough to propagate cutting in water? I have a plant that I would like to plant in a hydroton substrate that has a water level about an inch down into it but i dont want to do so if its going to kill it. any thoughts or any factors i haven't mentioned here? thanks in advance!

Nature of Humanity Ch 65
Destination; Wriss part 18
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A Fanfic of u/SpacePaladin15’s work “The Nature of Predators.” Thank you for the story!
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Excerpt of Dr. Elva's Journal recovered from the wreck of the Dauntless Victory
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Many people suffer from motion sickness on space-faring ships. Normally, this comes from the disjoint of the body’s means of understanding how its actually moving and the mind's perception of how it is moving, but with the invention of inertial dampeners, one would think standing in what feels like a stationary room with no windows wouldn't cause motion sickness.
Yet, that's precisely what's been happening to me. I've never felt this way before. Dr. Wiesera believes the sudden onset of motion sickness is caused by the stress of our current situation. I am given to believe her as I have noticed ticks in the rest of the crew. For example, Crevan has begun pacing in circles but seems confused when someone tries to get his attention. The only person who seems calm and unbothered is Barmlin, but given his disorder, I am confident in dismissing this abnormal behavior. To be truthful, I am a little glad to see the Arxur just as nervous as us.
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Memory transcription subject: Elva, Morvim Charter Soldier
Date [standardized human time]: November 3rd, 2136
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Our ship was hovering listlessly in the void of space just past the small astrological body known as Pluto. My digits tightened around the trigger of my gun as the five of us kept our weapons trained on the door. Crevan was unable to stop Isif from inspecting the “gifts” Humanity was giving to the Arxur as “thanks” for their intervention.
Wiesera let out a sigh as she lowered her firearm and grabbed the pad displaying the security feed, “Alright… we are in the clear. Isif has just departed the ship.”
We let out a collective sigh. The first hurdle for getting to Wriss had just been cleared without so much as a scratch. We lowered our guns as Hrallak opened the door, “We are safe for now. Crevan doubts we will get boarded again. Isif is apparently a bit of an outlier among the Chief Hunters.”
Caulnek stood up and stretched, “Hey, it's not like we didn't expect to get boarded leaving here and upon entering Dominion space.”
Rivera rubbed the sleep from his eyes, “Still couldn't we have done something better than just sit in a cattle pen with our guns pointed at the door?”
Hrallak thumped her tail no, “This is the Dominion we are speaking about. The great purge taught them everything about how stuff is hidden. I watched an Auditor enter a friend's house and in half a second open their hidden door. If they actually had anything stored in there, they would have all been executed via…”
As she trailed off, Wiesera changed the subject, “I never thought I'd willingly experience what it's like to lift off inside an Arxur ship. This is… unsettling.”
Hrallak wagged her tail, “It's sort of the opposite for me. For the first time in my life, I've come for the people in this room without that horrid knot in my guts. It feels like I'm free.”
It finally dawned on me as we grabbed our limited possessions and left the cattle pen behind for good, that every time she has come to this room before it’s been to drag some unfortunate soul to their death. Even if Crevan stated that she tried to be merciful, her paws were personally stained with a rainbow of blood that I doubt she would ever be able to wash out.
Yet, there was a slight spring in her step as she led the way to the galley with us in tow. Before she probably had to drag screaming victims to their fate, and now she is leading us to one of many meetings. I suppose in a sense, she is finally free. Whether this mission is successful or not, she will never butcher another sapient for as long as she lives.
My tail had the slightest wag to it as we entered the galley. The smell of disinfectant and bleach was strong enough to hit my blunt sense of smell but helped to wipe away any thought of the horrors that happened in this area. Lesh, Ishveil, and Ivan were waiting for us with cloths draped over their snouts.
For a moment, I thought they were trying to mimic what the humans do with their face coverings before they handed a cloth to both Hrallak and Wiesera. Wiesera took in a deep breath through the cloth, “Thank you, this smells a lot stronger than the hospital., Oh! This is a rather strange scent! I wouldn't think the Arxur would approve of scented laundry detergent!”
Ivan chuckled, “The dominion doesn't, but when I got a whiff of what the humans did to clean this ship, I nearly hurled. Thankfully, they had a handy solution ready. The smell should lighten up soon. And we also have more towels if you want them for any reason.”
Lesh thumped his tail against the ground, “Crevan and Mico are piloting the ship. You know the crew rotation. It should be quiet for the next few days… at least before we arrive.”
Ivan thumped his tail in agreement, “Normally, I'd suggest using downtime to train, but that is not exactly something we can do on this ship. So whatever you can do to keep ready for the attack without blowing the ship up or ruining our cover will be essential.”
Rivera stuck his paw in the air, “Does that include doing anything to distract us from the fact we are on a cattle ship?”
Lesh's eyes opened wide, almost as if he hadn’t considered what being on board would be like for us. He thumped his tail, “Y-yeah. It wouldn't do to have you freaking out… but it would be better for you to come to terms with the situation instead.”
Hrallak held herself with her own arms, “If the horrid things that have happened on this ship are getting to you, then you aren't ready for Wriss. Here… people were tortured, killed and eaten… on Wriss it was entire species…”
Rivera was starting to shake when Caulnek slapped a paw on his back, “It'll be fine. We've turned this ship from one of death to salvation, we can do it again. I got a projector and some human movies from a friend. What do you say about turning the lights down and watching them?”
“Y-yeah sure.”
Ivan tilted his head, “Movies? As in video media for entertainment instead of education? Can I watch? I've never seen anything like that before.”
Caulnek flicked his ears yes, then Lesh rolled his eyes and walked out of the room as Caulnek set up his projector. While Ivan, Ishveil and Hrallak sat separated from us, we all sat in a close-knit ball.
With the already dim lights off, our only source of illumination was the projector's light bouncing off the wall. A series of short clips began to play, depicting a series of quarries and mines. For the most part, it was heavy machines moving vast amounts of earth and stone.
Stupidly large dump trucks practically carried mountains on their backs. A gargantuan chain saw cut into the earth, making an artificial valley in a matter of hours. A drill comparable to a skyscraper began to drill a tunnel down into the earth.
I could only begin to imagine this movie was about mining and the stresses that it brings. Several humans began to carefully set up explosives in a tunnel and ran cables to a safe place. The lot of them were smiling at each other and were practically bouncing from excitement. Two humans standing several feet apart nodded at each other and flipped the plastic safety covers on two red switches before flipping them.
As the light turned green, every human ducked and covered in their makeshift bunkers as the detonation sent a shockwave down the tunnel. As the dust settled, I noticed the music that was playing in the background was now silent.
Two people walked off into the settling dust cloud and began to scream. A man who for the entire time he has been on the screen has had a blank emotionless face picked up a radio, “Report.”
“WE HIT THE FUCKING MOTHERLOAD! THE ENTIRE CAVE IS MADE OF THIS NEEAHRITE SHIT! HELL THERE ARE FLOATING COLUMNS OF THIS STUFF”
The description of the made up material caught me off guard. It wasn't until a serious dude walked forward that I realized why they said that. A floating hexagonal pillar of pearlescent green and orange stone floated weightlessly in the middle of a large chamber. As the miners walked through the chamber, what I had assumed to be just the minerals lining the walls twinkling in the light were pushed away like leaves floating on water.
The illusion broke as I realized that the air was filled with small floating particles. They almost gave the impression of being submerged underwater. A miner swept a bag through the air and closed it, “Hey, let's get out of here. Pretty sure breathing in minerals causes cancer. We can come back with respirat-” BANG!
We all jumped as a red puff came from the man's chest. The miners began to scream and run, but each one fell over after their own personal gunshot went off. Soon the only person standing was the emotionless human who wiped some blood off his face.
Several armed soldiers came into the cave wearing full combat gear and respirators, “Sir. Site secured. All potential leaks have been neutralized.”
Their leader fell to his knees and held his hands up to the floating monolith, “Excellent. Begin phase 2.”
Caulnek threw his paws into the air, “What?! Why did they do that? All those people worked together!”
Ishveil snorted, “I doubt that. That one human in charge was using the miners. When he was done using them, he threw them away. I've seen dominion officers do that to countless runts.”
“I- I just never imagined that as something humans would think of…”
“Then you need to read up on Humanity's past. Especially about their most hated foe, the Nazis.”
The camera cut to a man nearby a primitive cabin in the woods. He looked grizzled and old as he was nervously picking at his beard. A truck rolling up caught his attention and he waved at it. I couldn't read the words on it, but the woodsman addressed the man who stepped out of the truck, “Evening, Warden. Thanks for coming out here.”
“Hey, thank you! If there's aA new disease going around affecting the wildlife, I want to get on top of it now and not later. So tell me what happened.”
“Well sir. I got my permit to harvest yesterday when I noticed my stores were getting low.”
“Thank ya for doing that!”
“Welcome. I went to go harvest my first deer and… well, when I shot it, my round ricocheted off. Like I hit a piece of wrought-iron.”
They walked over to the deer and my little herd flinched as he showed the flayed corpse of a prey animal hanging upside down.
“It didn't run off so I shot it again but in the head this time. I brought it back here to dress it, but…”
I suppressed a gag as the man stuck his hand into the corpse and- pulled out a huge chuck of the mineral we had just seen, “Well… this!?”
The warden opened up a bag and took the stone from him, “Go wash your hands now. I- fuck! I got no clue what this is or if it can jump the species barrier. Also, I am taking the deer too, I'll have you compensated and get ya a new tag.”
Ivan spoke up, “Did those rocks… infect that animal?”
Wiesera shook her head, “No. Rocks can't infect anything. What likely happened is this mineral was absorbed by vegetation, which the animal ate and absorbed. That stone chunk the Game Warden pulled out was its intestines. The mineral is probably also contaminating the entire body of it.”
We quieted down again as the show carried on. The warden had put out an alert to the town about the mineralization of local animals, as well as a notice to not drink the groundwater. The Game Warden was standing with his brother, a police officer, as a doctor explained that several people were already showing signs of mineralization.
The pair of them discussed what they could do to try and solve this epidemic. Apparently, all means of communicating with the outside world were gone and both of the major roads coming into the area had collapsed into sinkholes.
Finally, the brother's decided that the Police would help the few Doctors help patients and keep a quarantine enforced while the Warden would go ask the miner's if there was an expert on call who could help.
As the brothers left the coroner's office, they both froze, like spotted prey. One of the miners who was visibly missing part of his head was standing in front of them. The warden took a half step towards him before the miner let out a star’s awful wail. I heard the sound of Hrallak skittering back as we watched the miner rush, lift and throw the warden ten feet onto the hood of his own truck. His brother quickly whipped out a taser and shot the man with it but started to backpedal as he just kept walking despite the electricity flowing through his body.
As the Police brother screamed in fear at the mineralized miner, the Warden managed to scramble off his truck and grab a shotgun from his cab. He fired a round into the miner's head, causing it to explode like a dropped ceramic plate. The body made another step forward and slowly started to crumble.
The brothers stared at the dust laying on the road as sirens began to grow in intensity. The screen smash cut to a dozen law enforcement cruisers ripping through mountain roads on their way to the quarry. As they approached the locked gates, the first cruiser flew through it, smashing it open for the others. While the officers climbing out didn’t look like they were anything special, they still moved in a coordinated effort.
Ishviel thumped his tail, “Are we going to see human strike teams at work?”
Caulnek snorted, “Yeah, no. From what I’ve seen of human media, their entertainment industry cares very little for accuracy. Expect these guys to do some nonsensical stuff.”
The Brother officer stepped out of his truck and loaded some shells into his shotgun. Another officer berated him for taking a lethal weapon into this quarantine operation when he stopped and stared them down, “I watched someone already mineralized chuck my older brother like a gawdamn can of beans. I will try to save as many people as possible, but I ain’t gonna die for this.”
With the defiant statement made, we proceeded to watch some surprisingly boring action. Or perhaps the actual action we had all seen took any entertainment out of it for us. From police officers ignoring all sense of danger and the lack of any competency of the bad guys who were still holding the mines hostage, I couldn’t tell who was worse. We’d watch three officers walk into a clear ambush, only for the bad guys to reveal themselves and then proceed to miss every shot.
Whenever the cops had to deal with those that had been mineralized, the victims suddenly moved five times slower and had absolutely none of their previous magical strength. It was starting to get so bad that we were all laughing by the time the warden and his brother confronted the mine’s manager. Yet, we all froze for a moment when we saw him. He stood there with his back turned to them and his hands held in the air, worshiping the floating monolith. He slowly turned around to reveal… some sort of pink goop thing piloting a robot human?
Wiesera just let out a “What the FUCK is this show?!” while Ivan doubled over in pain from laughing so hard.
Ishviel gave a confused look to Caulnek, “What is the plot of this thing?!”
Caulnek held his paws in the air, “It's a B movie. Guys had no budget to make a movie but wanted to anyways for some reason. My friend and I spent quite some time during the exchange watching these silly things.”
Hrallak was holding the tip or her snout as tears rolled down her eyes, “Oh my gosh, so this isn’t even good Human entertainment?”
“NOPE! Bottom of the barrel right here! Now shush! We are getting to the good part! The villain's monologue!”
“No you stupid apes. We Takakapalta have always been around. We were and have always been. Since your planet's life was barely strands of DNA swimming around in hot mud, we have planned. We have worked and strived and bled for this day. The day the Neahrite is ready for harvest. The full-”
The Warden rolled his eyes, “OH, SHUT THE FUCK UP!” before the brothers fired shell after shell into the alien, killing it.
The Police officer placed his hand on the warden’s shoulder, “Hey… should we have brought it in alive for the feds?”
He and the warden laughed as they walked off and the credits rolled.
Wiesera had buried her head in her paws, “I’m sorry but… WHAT!? Just WHAT?! THEY AREN’T GOING TO ADDRESS THE DISEASE RUNNING RAMPANT THROUGH THE TOWN?! THROUGH THE ECOSYSTEM?!”
Ishviel rolled onto his back and splayed himself across the floor, “What about those tactics? I thought those humans in masks defending the mines were professional soldiers! Those ambushes! They practically screamed, ‘this is an ambush’ before jumping out of cover and getting shot!”
Caulnek was laughing even harder, “Oh yeah! Or the fact that the whole explanation we got was, ‘Aliens did it.’ Like that wraps up anything nicely at all!”
Ivan was still chuckling to himself, “Are all the movies that you have these… B movies?”
“YUP!”
“Put another one on. I’ve never laughed like this before.”
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Movie night with the more friendly gator bois! And gal. Caulnek was introduced to cheesy B movies and now the whole gang is too! Looks like they might have a pleasant time en-route to Wriss!
Also this week SUCKED. Monday my car hit some deep water early in the morning and popped my water belt off causing my car to overheat. That led to a 4 hour trip home when it should have been 35 minutes. Bought a new belt and it’s fixed. THEN on friday our parking lot floods and the floor of my car gets flooded. Any higher and it would have poured into my car when I opened the door. It’s been three days and I will likely have to pull the seats, center console and some other things out to remove the carpet. Maybe I can find someone to pay to fix this problem. But hey… Ford should start building my truck this week.
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Directory
Library of BiasMushroom contains every link for everything I have written! Check it out as some stuff related to Nature of Humanity may not appear on HFY! As well as my little side stories and Fanfics of other NoP fanfics!
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The Nature of Humanity
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Destination; Wriss
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For anyone posting to HFY do NOT select HFY first. It bugs out and doesn't work nice with copy/paste from google docs.

TL:DR Are the wasps gone because of the bees and spiders increasing, or are the bees and spiders here because I got rid of the wasps?
So this is a question I've been wondering out of simple curiosity and I'm having trouble finding an answer elsewhere online, so maybe people here might know.
I live in the midwest in an apartment complex surrounded by woods. Naturally, this leads to insects, primarily many wasps, wanting to inhabit my porch, which is not enclosed (and by many, I mean hundreds at one point, where I couldn't even sit outside without being ambushed). There were several wasps nest on the porch, which I have taken pains to remove in the winter months in addition to 'wasp-proofing' as much as I can without using pesticides (blocking up noticeable gaps and planting herbs I've heard they dislike).
About a week ago, I noticed that the wasps were coming out and trying to find places they could get into the siding and the attic access, so I mixed up some water and vinegar and sprayed down the surfaces on my porch with it, because I read they don't like the smell and will stay away.
Since then, I haven't seen any wasps at all, but there has been a noted increase in honeybees, wood bees, and spider webs (which I am totally fine with, they don't bother me and I'm happy to keep them around for polinating -bees- and eating mosquitoes -spiders-).
I guess all of this to say, are the wasps staying away because there has been an increase in other territorial-like insects, or have the bees and spiders started taking up residence because I did finally manage to get rid of the insane amount of wasps that kept them away before? Or is there a third option, such as, the wasps just haven't actually come out in full force yet since it's so early in the year and I'm in for a rude awakening in a few weeks?

• I feel like if the apartment maintenance had sprayed pesticides the bees and spiders wouldn't come around either, but I don't know enough about it all to know for certain.
  
• bee & wasps facts also welcome!
  

Has anybody here tried wingfoiling on lake Summerset of Wivenhoe dam? In QLD Australia.
I was kitesurfing at least weekly up until I moved to SA 7 years ago, now I am back in sunny QLD and living in Lowood. It's about a 2h drive to the closest beach and I just have not managed to get there much. On the other hand we have a few lakes that are pretty close.
So these wind wings are getting me keen on sailing again. I've found nowhere on Wivenhoe dam that is a safe place to run the kitelines (Weeds/rocks/sticks all on the shores) but with a wing I should be able to walk everything into the water and get going free of plants.
I bought a Tahwalhi SUP from BCF and well, it's very relaxing and I'm out enjoying God's good creation. But wing foiling sounds more fun.
There is a fortnightly sailing club at Hayes Landing that mostly has Wetas, which are a little too far out of my price range and i don't have a towbar. In chatting to them they enjoy 15 knots, can handle 25. But our lake often is more likely 8 knots. Unfortunately there are no weather stations close to the water, so it's always a drive out there to check.
Oh, I'm 185cm and 95kg (6.07 foot, 209pounds)
So what I'm considering now is: 1. Do I wait until next summer and try to get some foiling lessons from Surfconnect at Sandgate before I buy anything? 2. Do I get a big ~120L inflatable board like the $1800 FANATIC SKY AIR PREMIUM from Briskites that I can deflate to fit in my car, learn on, and possibly sup-foil with? But that I might outgrow in 6 months. 3. Do I wait and look for a great 2nd hand deal on SurfFX/Seabreze/oceanaddicts. Where it might take me 6 month to save $500 4. Do I just guess that I will end up wanting a downwinder board of about 95L and get that now? making the initial learning to foil harder. and possibly requiring roof racks on my car.
As for the wing, I'm looking at a ~6m wing to keep, possibly the North Loft (my favorite kite is my 2012 North Fuse 12m) or maybe a S26 Naish Wing-Surfer Matador LT, because I like bright colours and no windows.
For a mast I honestly have not looked much but there is practically no swell on these lakes so something sort i suppose. I'll probably get whatever the shopkeeper recommends when I buy my board.
Depending on the board+foil I could continue learning by SUP-foiling, or if the wind picks up, use my kitegear. The alternative is that I get a wing first and just muck about with my SUP (that has no daggerbboard).
Thanks for reading

Hello! Working on cycling a planted tank right now - tank is processing ammonia into nitrite in 24 hours but the nitrites themselves don't drop and are getting pretty high, close to 5ppm.
I've seen advice saying to stop dosing ammonia until nitrites drop, to dose ammonia to .25ppm to keep the bacteria from starving, to do a 50% water change to bring nitrites down bc it's getting high enough to stall the bacteria, to not mess w water changes and trust the process.... Not really sure what to do here and taking any advice!

Killer Grips: Anne Maria, Brick, Jasmine, Justin, Millie, Trent
Screaming Gaffers: Chase, MK, Ripper, Scott, Sky
Episode 4: Beach Blanket Bogus
A grandiose tune played as a large red 'TDA' flew in from the foreground as the narration began, coming to a rest in front of a backdrop of a starry sky; a meteor shot across behind the 'D'. "Last time, on Total Drama Action!" The typical recap song began as the scene cut to Chris McLean standing by the numbered studios. "He was a boy," a picture of Trent smiling slid on to the left side of the screen, "she was a girl," a similar gesture was followed by a picture of Sky smiling sliding in on the right before they both disappeared and the host continued, "and last week on Total Drama Action, a shocking team redistribution pitted them against one another."
“Our heroine made a fundamental romantic comedy error. Picking Chase first and leaving her boyfriend Trent feeling kinda ouchie. Meanwhile, two men made an illegal alliance. And Justin's mad thespian skills trumped Izzy's... well, madness.”
“It was all too much for Chef's tender heart, and Izzy, uh, Kaleidoscope, was clearly a bit too nutso. Even for this show.”
"What will happen to Sky and Trent's barely-there relationship? How will MK and Scott's newfound alliance fare? Will my non-fat vanilla soy latte ever get here? All the answers, uh, answer, right now! In another tear-jerking episode of, Total! Drama! Action!"
(Theme Song)
The episode opened on a shot of Chef stirring a pot with a scowl on his face, then serving up a scoop of whatever brown mush he'd made to MK. "No wonder models are so thin," she mumbled to herself.
"Ma's cooking is better compared to this," Scott said over her shoulder. “Her goat butter is to die for.”
"If it made you the slob that you tend to be, I'll pass on that," MK said before moving over to her team's table, to which she saw Ripper sculpting Izzy's face out of his own mush. “What the heck are you doing, Ripper?!” she asked in bewilderment.
“I'm making my breakfast into the head of Izzy, brain girl,” Ripper replied. “What else?”
“But why?” MK asked.
“She may be gone, and she may have been grating for the past few days with her E-Scope schtick, but I want to make sure that I'll remember her even when she's far away from here,” Ripper replied. “You're not gonna see my cry like a baby over her.”
Confessional: MK
“Ripper's crush on Izzy is something that's not going to interest me, but there is a relationship that's about to be on rocky terms,” MK confessed deviously.
Confessional Ends
Brick and Jasmine were shown eating together at their table. “I never got to perform my juggling talent for the first season's talent show, but I did win a medal for it at my school's talent show a few years back,” Jasmine conversed.
“That's amazing, ma'am,” Brick said, impressed. “I've also won medals like you back in cadets. I took the teamwork medal three years running! Also, the bed-making medal, the "flag-folding" medal, and the letters-home-to-mom medal,” he chuckled. “I always win that one.”
“I like how we're both so talented in our endeavors and yet we don't have snakes bitten into our heads about them,” Jasmine said.
“I prefer to go the humble route,” Brick responded. “Honor is more important than pride.”
Trent was sprinkling salt onto his eggs when the top suddenly fell off, dumping all of the salt all over his breakfast. He then heard laughter behind him, and he turned around to find Chase as the source of it.
"Sorry! I set that up for anybody, not just you, to use it!" Chase called out.
"Chase, that's my boyfriend," Sky reprimanded her teammate, causing him to feel a bit of guilt.
"Don't you know it's bad luck to spill salt?" Trent started picking salt off of his plate and tossed them behind him. The salt hit Scott in the face, making the farmer stand up and scream in pain.
"Nothing a little pepper won't fix," Trent began sprinkling pepper onto his eggs when all its contents fell onto his eggs. Trent repeated the process of picking the seasoning off his plate and tossing them back. And like before, they nailed Scott square in the face. Unlike the first time, the pepper caused him to sneeze uncontrollably, and he ran about screaming and sneezing.
“That was so hilarious!” Chase laughed and made his way over to Trent. “Are you still going to finish your eggs?”
"Given that they've been ruined, I'm gonna say no," Trent answered and slid the plate away from him.
Sky soon came over with a new plate of eggs. “Sorry about what Chase did to you, Trent,” she said while placing the plate in front of him. “I got this just for you.”
Trent smiled at the new plate of eggs. “How lucky am I to have a girlfriend like you in my life?” he asked with a side hug towards Sky.
“Just as much as me,” Sky smiled.
“Sorry about messing with your breakfast like that,” Chase apologized. “I just wanted to pull off my first prank on this film lot.”
“All is forgiven, man,” Trent told him.
Chase smiled, but was then startled when a piercing whistle was blown nearby.
A surf pop tune began in the background as Chris entered the craft services tent wearing a pair of sunglasses and holding a whistle. "Hang on to your coconuts, players," he told them, the camera cutting back to show him carrying a red-and-gold surfboard under his right arm. "We're going back to the beach!"
“Now you're cookin’!" Anne Maria cheered.
"Ever seen one of those 1950s surfer movies where the kids get up to neato fun before the big bonfire twist-a-thon, and the bully kicks the sand castle in the nerdy guy's face?" Chris asked. Brick, who was now standing next to the counter, shrugged, Jasmine raised an eyebrow, MK nodded, Scott sneezed, and Trent and Sky were confused.
“Um, we haven't seen any of them at all,” Millie said.
“How old do you think we are?” Justin asked boredly.
"Well, get ready to recreate one, juniors!” Chris carried on. “Two challenges, followed by a tiebreaker, if necessary. So, grab your swimsuits!" He turned and left, the contestants following suit.
Brick was about to leave until he was pulled back by Chef. "If the sand castle thing goes down, make sure you're the kicker, not the kickee. You and I are a team, and we don't want you to be a wimp, right?" The army boy nodded in agreement.
Unbeknownst to them, the scene cut to the left to reveal that Justin had been overseeing them from behind the entrance with an intrigued look on his face.
The footage flashed forward, and a frigid wind blew across a few icy stage lights. The camera panned down to the contestants standing in their swimsuits and shivering in the cold. "Is Antarctica supposed to have a beach?" Anne Maria asked, her teeth chattering together.
"As some of you can see," Chris said, dressed in thick white parka and snow goggles, "we're actually in the shooting studio." The camera pulled out to show an icicle-rimmed pool dominating the area behind the cast; it was flanked by film equipment on most sides and a pair of giant fans on the right. A surfboard had been attached to a stand on the back rim, and was positioned to be in front of a green screen. To the right in the foreground, Chef stood by what looked like a control panel, a green scarf wrapped around his neck.
"And why is the AC cranked?" Ripper asked.
"All the cameras and lights get so hot," Chris explained, "they could melt Chef's heart." The hulking man gave the single most disturbing 'cheerful' grin and wave that had ever been shown. "And the network told my agent sweaty wasn't a good look for me," the host added, briefly fanning himself.
"Your first challenge?" he said, looking up at the surfboard. "Hang ten this deck into the big blue without swallowing tail in the soup."
"Could you repeat that?" Millie asked in confusion. “Those weren't even words.”
“He means whoever stays on the surfboard longest, wins,” Trent said.
"Exactamundo, groovy cats!" Chris told them. "So? Who's goin' first?" MK and Scott looked at each other, Jasmine tried to adjust her hat while she shivered, Brick looked everywhere but at the host, and finally a cricket chirped from on top a light. A gust of frigid wind froze it solid, and its hind legs snapped off. "The team that wins will get a half-hour head start on the next challenge," the host explained, "aaand given tonight's reward, you should be fighting harder than Justin's abs over who gets first shot."
"I know my abs are better," Scott gloated to MK, who rolled her eyes. "I have a stone hard ten pack while Justin's are like butter."
As Scott tried to show them off, the camera panned to Ripper behind the pair looking annoyed. He smirked mischievously and gave the redheaded boy a light shove with his hand and he stumbled forward a couple steps. MK looked at Ripper, who shrugged innocently. "Sorry," he said unapologetically. "I slipped."
"We have a volunteer!" Chris said now that Scott had inadvertently stepped forward.
“I didn't volunteer on purpose,” Scott glared over his shoulder, “but fine.”
The surf rock tune briefly played again as Scott was shown stepping onto the surfboard. "This surfboard better be sturdy!" he said as he made a proper surfing position.
"And, please welcome the return of some season one fan-favorites," Chris announced from behind the pool, "the sharks!"
Immediately, one of the giant freshwater man-eating sharks jumped out and snapped its teeth at Scott. He squeaked and flinched away, and Chris was shown cringing.
Confessional: Scott
"Pigs are my favorite animals, but I should let you know that sharks are NOTHING like pigs," Scott told the confessional camera. "They're bloodthirsty and do not play nice! The only reason I'm not frightened to be around them is because they haven't attempted to maul me to the point of trauma!"
Confessional Ends
The footage cut back to show Scott now clinging from one of the supports for the lights hanging above the pool. The shark leaped up again and snapped its jaws in another attempt to grab him, but fell back down with a splash, unsuccessful. "Me and my abs are out!" he declared.
“Your abs have an opinion? Seriously!?” Sky asked.
"How did you even manage to jump that high?" MK commented with disbelief.
"Hey!" Scott said in offense. "I am not letting myself get swallowed by a shark! Me and my family lost my great aunt Iris that way!"
"I'd believe you if you weren't such a big liar on a daily basis!" Ripper called up to him.
"Hey sharks, check it out!" Scott called out, pointing away from the water tank. "There's a plate of bacon over there!"
Everyone looked to see Brick eating bacon off a plate he carried with him. “I had some breakfast left over,” the cadet admitted.
The sharks emerged from the water begging for the food, and this gave Scott the opportunity to drop down. Unfortunately, he slammed on the plank back first.
"Ooh, way to stick the dismount, bro," Chris chuckled, Chase and MK also chuckling as well while Sky smiled in amusement.
The camera panned over to Trent sighing at the sight of Chase and Sky, causing Millie to take notice. “Is something the matter?” she asked in concern.
“Nothing! It's nothing!” Trent quickly denied.
“Oh, okay then,” Millie said unconvinced.
Unbeknownst to them, Justin had overheard their conversation with a grin.
Confessional: Justin
“That was strange of Trent,” Justin admitted, “but his attitude is something worth investigating.”
Confessional: Millie
“I know Trent's upset about Sky and Chase being together, but I don't think he should be,” Millie told the camera. “Everyone's free to be friends with whoever they want to.”
Confessionals End
The surf tune began again as Brick stepped onto the board. He wobbled a bit as he tried to find his balance until a shark jumped out of the water and bit off his swim shorts; he quickly covered his pixelated groin with his hands and jumped down, an expression of fear and embarrassment on his face.
"The body's a beautiful thing," Chef called out as Brick ran past him. "You don't need a suit!"
Sky was the next to take her turn as the sunset flickered back on to the green screen behind her. She managed to find her balance on the rocking board, but this changed when Chris pushed a button on the control panel and changed the background into a tornado-struck farm. Chef grinned and plugged in the giant fans, which immediately got up to top speed. Soon, a powerful wind was sweeping past Sky from behind, and not long after, the petite gymnast was blown off the surfboard, hitting the backdrop with a splat.
Next was Ripper, who quickly jumped onto the middle of the surfboard from the small platform at the edge of the pool. However, his hard landing caused the board to crack, and it eventually collapsed beneath him and dropped him into the pool.
“What the heck even was that?!” Ripper complained in outrage that turned into shock when he saw the pair of sharks leering at him, but he managed to quickly grab the pieces of the surfboard that had fallen in with him and throw them onto the sharks' mouths, wedging them open.
“Later, fangs!” Ripper taunted before quickly scrambling over the lip of the pool and dropping back to the ground on his back.
Chris stepped in front of the camera and blew a whistle. "Break time!" he announced. "Union rules!"
"Is this really happening?!" Millie piped up in the background.
"I don't mean you, shark bait!" Chris told him.
A classical British tune began as the footage skipped forward. The camera was focused on one of the sharks, now sitting in a chair with a pink towel on its head, sipping a cup of tea. The shot zoomed out to show the other shark sitting nearby, accepting a piece of food from a platter that Chef was holding out. The camera panned up to the fixed surfboard, where Jasmine was already in position.
"No sharks to hinder me?" Jasmine said confidently. "Way too easy!" The surf music began again as the Outback girl started her turn on the swaying board, but it quickly ended as Jasmine noticed something nearby.
A deeper, more ominous tune played as the camera panned up a minigun turret. When it reached the top, a cartridge of rather bewildered-looking seagulls was fitted into the top of the gun; Chris' gloved hand cocked it, and started the barrel spinning. "I love this game!" he exclaimed before opening fire.
Jasmine dodged most of the seagull barrage, but one of the birds knocked her hat into the water. “My hat!” she gasped as she looked down, and two more shots to her stomach and legs caused her to lose her balance and tumble into the water.
"Good luck with with those gulls!" Jasmine told Anne Maria after the scene cut to the latter stepping forward. "They're a handful."
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Anne Maria told her, looking at the pair of dorsal fins sticking out of the water as the sharks swam around, then climbed the ladder on the side of the pool. "Those gulls better not touch my hair!" she shouted once she'd gotten on to the surfboard.
"No promises," Chris chuckled to himself as he loaded another seagull cartridge onto the gun. He opened fire, and the tanned girl managed to dodge everything that was shot at her.
Confessional: Brick
"For all of Anne Maria's vanity," Brick told the make-up trailer camera, "she's definitely got a winning edge!"
Confessional Ends
Chris frowned in panic. He looked at his gun, which was low on ammunition, to the equipment sitting behind him, and the camera cut back to Anne Maria just before a director's chair was thrown at her.
"Are you serious, McLean?!" she shouted angrily before promptly getting shot in the face with another seagull, losing her balance and falling into the pool.
One of the sharks immediately lunged at Anne Maria, but she just scowled and swung her fist at its nose, then swam away while it rubbed the injured area.
Confessional: Anne Maria
"They say that animal cruelty is wrong," Anne Maria said in the confessional, "but when the humans are being harmed by them, human cruelty is not against the law."
Confessional Ends
"Finally, we have Chase!" Chris announced as the daredevil steadied himself on the surfboard, adding "Try not to get your hair wet," as he took aim with the fully-loaded gull gun. Chase rolled his eyes and Chris began to fire, but the contestant dodged the birds easily, even jumping up and somersaulting in the air.
His gun now completely out of ammunition, the host looked behind him for something else once again. The camera briefly cut back to Chase as he dodged a light that was thrown at him, then showed Chris as he frantically looked for something else. The camera panned to the left, showing the Killer Grips watching their opposition, with Anne Maria standing closest to the host. He grinned darkly, and she noticed and scowled. “Don't even try it, Chris!” she snarled and handed him her cans of hairspray.
The camera cut back to Chase as his eyes went wide. "Seriously?!" he exclaimed as the cans of hairspray were hurled at him. He swiftly ducked, and the cans hit the set.
"And with that," Chris announced as a triumphant tune began to play, "Chase secures victory for the Screaming Gaffers."
“Cool!" Chase said, jumping down from the surfboard. He walked back over to his cheering team, and after sharing a combination of a fist bump and a high-five, he and Sky gave each other a friendly hug.
“I won't lie. Sky's team is unstoppable!” Millie commented as she and her team oversaw the Gaffers cheering.
“Try unstable!” Trent added in with jealousy. “A ticking time bomb of betrayal. We have to stop them for sure.”
Confessional: Justin
“Now I see the problem with Trent,” Justin confessed. “He's suffering from jealousy issues, and if I want to establish how big of a threat I can be this season, I'll have to increase those issues to a boiling point and set him up for elimination if we lose.”
Confessional Ends
“Don't sweat it,” Jasmine told her team's leader. “If we're lucky, we can win the second part of the challenge and the tiebreaker after.”
“Lucky…” Trent mumbled to himself before a idea sparked up. “I think I may know how we could win.”
"If you at home like disasters," Chris suddenly leaned into the shot to announce, "you'll love what's coming up next!"
"I'm telling you, my plan is foolproof," Trent told the host.
"We'll see about that," Chris replied teasingly.
(Commercial Break)

Hey fellow garden enthusiasts!
I've been on the lookout for a new garden hose lately, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by the options out there. With so many brands, materials, and features to consider, I thought I'd turn to this community for some advice.
So, what's the best garden hose you've come across recently? I'm looking for something durable, flexible, and efficient, but I'm open to all suggestions. Whether it's for watering delicate plants or tackling heavy-duty tasks like washing the car or watering a large garden, I want to hear about your experiences.
Here are a few questions to get the discussion going:

1. Which brand do you trust the most when it comes to garden hoses?
2. What material do you prefer for a garden hose (e.g., rubber, vinyl, reinforced fabric)?
3. Have you found any hoses that are particularly resistant to kinking or tangling?
4. Are there any specific features or technologies (like leak-proof connections or UV resistance) that you look for in a garden hose?
5. How important is the hose's length and diameter for your gardening needs?

Feel free to share your recommendations, experiences, and any tips or tricks you've learned along the way. Let's help each other find the perfect garden hose for our outdoor spaces!

Wondering about the scene in GOTG 1. When Groot gave the flower to the little girl, If she took it home planted it and watered it, put it on the windowsill for sun, etc….. would she grow her own Groot?