Many are cold but few are frozen

"for many are called but few are chosen" Matthew 22:14

When we were kids and went to St. Edward's church, just as we'd get ready to exit on really cold days, my father would invariably turn to us and say "for many are cold but few are frozen." Then he'd chuckle while he turned his collar up, made sure our coats were closed and our scarves were in place and out into the icy winter air we'd go for the walk home.

I thought about his little bible parody as I drove home along Sandia Creek Road this week.

Many of the groves along the way were affected during our recent spell of freezing temperatures. I've never seen anything quite like this damage - in some areas it looks like someone ran through the trees with a blow torch scorching a row of trees here and then one tree in the next row and then a couple of hundred trees. The avocado trees and other vulnerable landscaping actually look burned. We were lucky to have come through it all unscathed. We have a few frost bitten leaves but nothing significant.

Avocado experts advise leaving the dead portion of the tree alone and waiting a few weeks to see what happens. Loss of limbs may affect the tree similarly to a severe pruning - in other words some may recover and continue to grow and bear fruit.