Saturday Evening, February 17

It was held at Ephrata Business Center and put on by Mt. Zion Baptist Church

Shortly after entering the room, we chose our seats for the meal and program. This wildlife display was right next to us.

Cerwin talking to our friend Kevin (who invited us to this event) at his Whitetail Trophy Hunts display table. (It looks like they were having a serious discussion.) 🙂

Weaver’s Store is a strong supporter of our local wildlife events.

Two tables of door prizes. Cerwin and I both won a gift – Cerwin received a gift certificate to Mussers Outdoors and I had the opportunity to choose anything from the table on the left. I chose a bottle of laminate floor cleaner.

I noticed that a lot of people were gathering in one area of the room – then saw the owls and hawks. I also recognized Jason Caldwell (left) who talked about being a raptor at the Great American Wildlife Show (Small Arena) at the Harrisburg Farm Show building.

Hors d’oeuvres were ready shortly after we arrived.

Hors d’oeuvres also included rabbit stew…

Bear chili

Venison tenderloin and sausage

I do not remember the name of the man who coordinated the program – from Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

The meal included beef barbecue, macaroni salad, chips, cake, coffee and juice. There was no charge for this meal – only a donation if we wished. It was a gift from the sponsoring church.

The “Big Buck Contest” followed the meal. Hunters brought antlers from their 2017 hunt.

The winner

Jason Caldwell opened the raptors part of the program.

He introduced each of his owls and hawks and highlighted their habitat and skills.

I see red-tailed hawks in our area on occasion.

We have these in our woodlot now and then.

I have also seen a Barn Owl or two in my lifetime. I remember when they lived in a silo on the home farm.

A Barn Owl can hear the heart beat of a mouse at a distance of 100 yards.

He described Screech Owls as a tiny bird with a big voice. An adult like this one weighs 5 ounces.

This one is missing an eye from a road accident when it was young.

Following his presentation, his dad, Howard Caldwell, told us what birds in the Bible teach us. Howard and Jason are both Baptist preachers.

Migrating birds are wise enough to know that if they don’t migrate – they die.

~~~

He closed by saying, “We’ve got one shot at life. Live it well.”

~~~

It began snowing about the time the program began, so we knew that we would be driving home in snow.

As we neared home, we came behind a snow plow and before long a pickup truck coming toward us spun out of control and did a 180 degree donut right in front of us. We think he may have gotten off the edge of the road to avoid the snow plow.

We were thankful that he did not hit us or anyone else – but it was close enough that a few more seconds would have changed the outcome.

The pickup driver’s only problem was that he was now going west instead of east. 🙂

I expect he got turned around somewhere and we thankfully arrived home safely.