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Episode 1
- Why Do Leaves Change Color?
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- Shades of gold, orange, red, green, yellow and brown greeted the Maloney family as they drove up to southwest Wisconsin in early October. The setting sun that Friday evening seemed to sharpen the colors even more. They returned the greeting with oohs and ahs at the spectacular scenery.
- "What causes the leaves to change color?" Mel asked, hoping that one of the adults in the car would have the answer.
- "What do YOU think?" Mike asked Mel in response.
- "I dunno."
- Mike didn't want to simply feed the children with answers, especially when he wasn't sure exactly how the leaves did change colors each fall. "Mal, how about you? Or shall I say, Bioloney? Any ideas?"v Mal grinned at his grandfather's calling him by his new nickname. "How did you know my new name, Grandpa?"
- "Your Mom told me about your little game at school with...what was it now? Oh, yes, the Hog Frog."
- (The introduction to Book 1 tells how Mal dressed a frog in a little vest and head kerchief during his third grade science class when the teacher was out of the room, sat the "biker" frog on a miniature motorcycle and started a game pushing it back and forth)
- "I don't know either, Grandpa."
- Mort rescued his father at that point, guessing (correctly) that Mike had no idea how the trees change color in the fall. "The green that we see in the leaves during spring and summer is due to chlorophyll. Do you remember Dr. Ethyl at Yellowstone telling us that certain bacteria use light to produce energy, just like plants do? Those bacteria were a kind of bluish-green."
- "Like leaves!" Mel said excitedly. "Are there bacteria on the leaves?"
- "Yes, there are bacteria on the leaves," said Agnes. "Bacteria are everywhere, but they don't have too much to do with the leaves changing color, except when the tree is badly infected and the leaves turn brown."
- Mort continued. "You know that the sun gets lower in the sky during fall and winter, right? As the days get shorter, there is less light for the leaves to make food from the light, along with using carbon dioxide gas from the air and water from the ground. So the green chlorophyll fades away and we see the gold and orange colors that were there to begin with, just covered up by the green."
- "Even the red?" Mal asked.
- "The red color is a little different," said Mort. "The leaf's sugar used as food is called glucose. The glucose stays in the leaves of certain trees, such as maple. After the green chlorophyll disappears, sunlight and cool nights cause the glucose to turn red."
- "That sounds complicated," said Mel.
- "It is, in a way. But it's a lot simpler than all the processes that people have going on," Agnes said, while Mort nodded in agreement.
- "Leave it to a food chemist and a physical therapist to know about these things," Mike observed, grateful to be learning along with his grandchildren.
- They reached the motel where they would be staying Friday and Saturday nights about dusk. "Let's plan an early bedtime so we'll all be raring to go for all the Pumpkin Fest activities being held in the area," Mike suggested, which was fine with everyone.
- How Big Is an Acre?
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- The twins were up early, eager to find the "perfect pumpkins" in the pumpkin field. There was to be a pumpkin coloring contest later in the day and they wanted to find the very best ones for coloring before anyone else had a chance to pick them.
- "No need to worry about that," Mike advised. "The pumpkin patch is huge. More than 15 acres, I understand. It would take you two days just to LOOK at each pumpkin, much less deciding which to pick."
- "What's an acre, Grandpa?" Mal wanted to know.
- "Actually, I have no idea, Bioloney, my boy. Mort? Aggie?"
- Agnes said she remembered something from when she used to visit her cousin. "I think an acre is about 200 feet x 200 feet."
- Mal still had no idea how big an acre was. "That helps a lot, Mom. How big is 200 feet?"
- "Well, the city lots are usually 25 feet wide, so you tell me. How many houses on our street would it take to measure 200 feet?"
- "Dad, do you have a pencil," Mal asked.
- "Son, I think you can figure it out without a pencil," Mort replied. "Think about coins. How many quarters does it take to make one dollar?"
- "That's easy, Dad. Four!"
- "I know, I know!" Mel called out, jumping up and down. "8 houses are 200 feet!"
- "Excellent, Mel," Agnes praised. "We're getting closer to an idea about an acre. But the city lots are only 125 feet deep, not 200. So an acre needs to be more than just 8 houses, right?"
- By now the twins weren't particularly interested in how big an acre is, but they were definitely interested in breakfast. "Right, Mom. I'm hungry!" Mal proclaimed.
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- Creating the Perfect Pumpkin Designs
- "These are all pumpkins?" Mal stared at the vast field of green and orange. Grandpa was right, he thought, remembering the conversation over breakfast. Good thing we didn't bring Rufus on this trip. He'd go nuts!
- "Careful. Don't step on any of the pumpkins and try not to disturb the leaves too much," Agnes called after Mal and Mel as they ran aimlessly through the field.
- After 10 or so minutes of selecting one pumpkin, then finding a "better" one and then another and another, Mal and Mel each settled on their own vision of a "perfect" pumpkin to color for the contest. Mal had great ideas for his crooked and bumpy-skinned choice and so did Mel for hers, which could have been the most perfect, round and smooth pumpkin in the whole field. Agnes picked out a big one to take home. She found a good carving pumpkin that had enough meat for baking two pies.
- There were already about a dozen children designing their pumpkins when the Maloneys arrived at the contest area. The contest organizers provided colored markers and various natural and craft materials for the children to create their masterpieces. Mal and Mel brought their pumpkins to a picnic table and started right in.
- "Don't you want to plan your design?" Mike asked them.
- "I did already," Mal replied.
- "Me too," said Mel. Then she had another idea, better than her first image she had in mind. "Hmm. Maybe you're right, Grandpa. There are a bunch of different designs I could make. Let me think about it."
- While Mel was contemplating different possibilities for her perfect pumpkin, Mal was furiously scribbling all over his crooked, bumpy one. Colors overlapped and sometimes blended into strange shades that no one would consider attractive colors for markers. But he was totally caught up in his effort, having a great time arranging and gluing bunches of hay hair on the top of his pumpkin's "head" and arranging dried berries, leaves and twigs to form ears, nose and mouth. It was a sight to behold! (Both Mal and his pumpkin, that is.)
- Mel finally settled on an idea for her pumpkin. It would be pretty, with pink cheeks and dried flowers for hair. She carefully scattered sparkly glitter over the dried flowers, stepped back and said, "Done!" Then, "Mom, Dad, Grandpa. Come see my pumpkin."
- "It's really pretty, sweetie," said Mort. "It sure is," Agnes echoed. Mike examined her masterpiece and proclaimed it the prettiest pumpkin he had ever seen.
- "Wait, I'm almost done too," said Mal.
- "There," he said proudly, as he added two pieces of bark for his pumpkin's ears.
- Everyone wanted to know - "What is it?"
- "It's my 'Earth Ness Monster.' It's the Loch Ness Monster's ugly brother."
- "Well, yes, it does look like a monster, Bioloney," Mike said. "There should be a special category for your creature."
- The Maloneys entered the two pumpkins in the contest and made plans to return in the late afternoon when the judging was to take place.
- Several mazes were set up in farmer's fields as part of Pumpkin Fest activities. Agnes explained to the twins how mazes worked. It was like the mazes in the Sunday paper's comic section, where you start at one end and try to find the way out of a network of paths to the other end. There are usually a series of turns and dead ends, so there is usually only one path out. On a life size scale, instead of using a pencil, you walk through the maze. There were children's mazes with low hedges, and traditional corn mazes that you can't see over because the stalks are about 8 feet tall.
- "I want to be an explorer," Mal said. "Let's do the corn maze. The hedge ones are for sissies. We're not sissies, are we, Mel?"
- "I think the corn one will be more fun, too, Mom. We could split up in teams, boys against girls, and see who's the best explorers," said Mel, who couldn't resist challenging her brother.
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 - LINKS: BOOK 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS
iNTRODUCTION TO BOOK 2
INTRODUCTION TO THE BIOFABLES SERIES
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