Hot, hot, hot is the summation of today's shoot at Sunny Bank Farm in Middleburg as we met to film the outdoor Scene number 5.

The day was met with several obstacles, not the least of which was the cross-eyed possum's progressing illness. Thanks to Art Director, Penny Hauffe, we had a cute, perfect bunny named Charlie as a replacement.

In addition to the sudden and shocking change in climate, Peter and Stokes had to pull poison ivy from the spot on the side of the road where Morgan kneels down to pet the rabbit.

"My price just doubled,’" said Stokes.

Stokes, who happens to be a retired United pilot, also informed us that we were directly under the inbound flight path for Dullus Airport. In fact, he gave a running commentary on exactly what we were dealing with. "There goes a 757. That one's a 47. You have 3 minutes before the next one." Meredith and Peter agreed to the inevitable voice-overs that would be necessary for this scene.

In addition, Meredith was spotted clearing the tire tracks from the road with a garden hoe mumbling, "Where is my $4 million Hollywood budget?"

Morgan's hair net got tangled in a tree branch when she stood up, almost causing a disastrous hair trauma, considering we were a very bumpy road and a lot of miles from the "dressing room."

As Peter was squatting amidst the poison ivy to film from the rabbit's perspective, holding the camera at ground level - the sweat streaming down his face - Meredith directed, "BE the rabbit."

Enter Remy, the horse, sauntering up the road with his owner, Stephanie Malevich. After Remy was fitted with his confederate tack, Ben, who discovered the horse was his exact same age - 20 - had a 30-second riding lesson and embarked on an amusing attempt to control the mischievous beast. This proved quite a challenge with sword, canteen, haversack, and gun belt. Poor Ben. After several takes of them weaving their way up the hill, he dismounted and tied Remy to a tree to complete the scene with Morgan.

Remy, quickly tiring of eating tree leaves in the blazing sun, seized a moment when no one was looking and bolted for Texas shouting, "This is NOT in my contract!" He stampeded around the property, losing his Confederate blanket roll, which Stephanie had to search out in the fields of thigh-high grass. By the time everyone was rounded up again, Remy was drenched from head to hoof in sweat, which Meredith ruled would have to contribute to his civil-war-horse-in-August authenticity.

"Is this horse getting paid more than me?"demanded Ben.

"Yes," said Meredith. "You are only getting half a bag of feed."

Despite the 90 degree misery of the weather, Morgan and Ben persisted with nary a word of complaint. Ben looked like he had jumped in a lake when he took off his wool jacket. He literally wrung out his shirt.

"How does it feel to have my fiction put into production and see the results?" said Meredith, putting a caption on the day. "Heaven. Pure heaven."