Judy, I've always heard, "The greener the apple, the better the pie." But I've also found from experience that if I mix in one or two Gala apples with the green Granny Smiths, my DH likes it even better. I generally use 2 fat Galas and 5 or 6 fat Granny Smiths.

The closer you can get your crust to the heating element, the better the bottom will brown, so yes, the lower third is correct.

For your pumpkin pie, I would suggest you make sure all of your ingredients are room temperature when you pour the pumpkin filling into the crust, and cover the top of the pie loosely with aluminum foil for the first part of the baking time to make sure the bottom crust has time to get done before the edges and the filling get too brown. The oven should be plenty hot for the first 15 minutes, and then you turn it down to your normal temperature. I preheat mine to 500, turn it to 475 after I close the oven door, let it go for 15 minutes, and then finish at 350 (or maybe 375, whatever the recipe says, I don't have it in front of me). BTW, my family has always loved the recipe on the Libby brand can of pumpkin (get plain pumpkin and add the spices yourself; the flavor is much better), and the Libby lower-fat version is just as good. To save time, I pick a day in September to count up all the pumpkin pies I think I will need to make by Jan, and bag up the sugar and spice for each one separately in a little sandwich bag. Sometimes I make the dough for the crusts ahead, and freeze that. With that much done in advance, baking a pumpkin pie becomes simplicity.

Good luck, and Happy Thanksgiving! I can't believe how close it is!