**Parents and scouts 16 years and older do a good deed for a Great Family**
Katie Retelle Memorial Blood Drive
May 27th 2:30-7:30
Merrimack Middle School
COMMITTEE CHAIR CHAT
Committee Meetings
All parents are encouraged to attend the monthly Committee Meetings held on the second Thursday of each month. The next meeting is scheduled for May 13th at 7 PM. We meet at St. James Church. Hope we'll see you there!
Medical Forms
BSA now requires that all medical forms be completed annually in order to participate in the scouting program. Summer camp is in a few months. We need to turn in the medical forms to Summer Camp by June 1 for the camp medical staff to review. Please get your new forms into Mrs. Kofman as soon as possible.
Silent Auction
A big THANK YOU goes out to everyone that helped to make the 4th Annual Silent Auction and Dessert Buffet a big success. The Family Raffle Baskets were a lot of fun and a great success! Thank you Mrs. Meighan for coordinating! The desserts were scrumptious! Even the healthy food was fantastic! Thank you Mrs. Beck for coordinating!
The Troop Committee is putting together a post Auction Survey that we will be distributing in the next few weeks. We ask that EVERY family, complete the survey (anonymously if you like) and return it to the Troop P.O. Box. Your feed back will help us to evaluate your viewpoints of the auction and determine the future of this event.
Thank you again for another successful event!
Marsha Kofman, 429-0794, rdhetal@yahoo.com
***Check your email ATLEAST 2 times per week for Scout updates***
***Always check the day of an event in case unforeseen changes comes up***
WHAT IS GOING ON? WHAT DID
YOU SAY? 
Volunteers Needed
Set up for the library book fair will be on Thursday, June 3rd at 5:30. Both strong boys and pickup trucks or vans will be needed to transport these books from the senior center to the library. The process only takes an hour or less. The opposite process takes place on Sunday, June 6th around 3:30
CPR Class Available to All
A certification course in CPR for adults and older scouts will be available Tuesday May 18 and Wed may 19th. Any interested adults/scouts should email Robin Rich ASAP as to which date they could attend so she can try to book /schedule it. The cost is $20.
Robin Rich 880-8222, r-rich@comcast.net
Round Table Meetings
Arrowhead District Roundtable meetings take place at the Latter Day Saints Church in Nashua (nest to Greeley Park) on the second Wednesday of each month. All leaders are encouraged to attend these monthly training meetings. You will be kept up to date on the future events and other opportunities within the scouting program in Daniel Webster Council. If you would like additional information, please contact the Committee Chair or Scoutmaster.
Dues Reminder!
Don’t forget you need to be current with your dues to participate in Troop 401 events. You can use your Scout Accounts to pay your dues. Have YOU paid your dues???
Calendar Criticals
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Bannock Biscuits
Bannock biscuits are an old Northern Manitoba trapper favorite. I first had these camping with my grandfather, a good trapper in his own right. I have modified the recipe as it calls for any animal fat you have handy. In a survival situation anything works. These are delicious and very easy to make in camp.
1 cup flour
1 pinch of salt (1 teaspoon)
¼ tablespoon of baking power
3 tablespoons of margarine mounded
¼ cup of cold water- add water until the dough is stiff and the flower is gone
1½ tablespoon of sugar
½ handfuls of raisins (many berries you find on the trail work as well)
I usually triple the recipe it makes about 8 to 10 biscuits depending on how big you make them. Mix the dry ingredients and cut in the margarine with a fork. Mix in the water to make a stiff dough. The amount of water you will need depends on the humidity.
Make a patty about two inches across and ½ to ¾ of an inch thick.. In a hot skillet over coals brown the patties on both sides in a small amount of margarine or oil. Then remove from the pan and wrap in a piece of foil, and place beside the fire to bake. You can also tilt the pan facing the fire and let them bake that way. At home bake in the oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness
These are best eaten warm with jam or butter. They can also be packed away to snack on along the trail.
Prusik knot or Triple Sliding Hitch
The Prusik knot was developed in 1931 by Dr.Karl Prusik. This is a mountaineering knot used to create (With two knots) a sliding step up a vertical rope. This is used when you have to climb vertically and have a rope attached above but do not have hand hold available. Ice climbing is a very good use for this knot. You will see many of the older scouts climbing the poles in the basement of the church. The Scouts love this knot.
The knot requires a "Prusik Loop" which is constructed by joining the two ends of a length of rope using a square knot or a Triple Fisherman's knot. I like to use a square knot for climbing in the church basement, but the Triple fisherman’s or barrel knot is best if you are climbing because it will not accidently come un-done.
If you are going to climb with this knot you must tie the rope loop together with a Barrel knot for your and others safety. As you can see from the illustration below it is very easy to tie. Practice in the church basement before you venture out and use it for climbing.
A small group of scouts attended the Isaac Davis Trail Camporee in Acton, MA on April 17-18. This event commemorates the march made by Acton Minutemen to meet the British in 1775. The hike from Acton to the Concord Bridge has been done by Boy Scouts for over 30 years.
We arrived mid afternoon to find our campsite was a large soccer field complex. It was dry considering the amount of rain we had received. We set up camp among 800 other scouts and leaders in the field. After setting up in a light rain, we made our dinners as the boys feasted on burgers, dogs and a grilled french bread pizza that was left to smoke on the grill. Nothing went to waste though. The boys ate well in our little tarp cave that seemed small when compared to the large car port rigs we saw in the other troops. But the leaders didn't feel bad when Mr. Sanborn out did himself feeding the leaders his Seafood Pie cooked in a Dutch Oven only to be finished off with a Chocolate Raspberry cake co-authored by Joey Baxter and Mr. Sanborn.
The camporee had a presentation by Native American drummers and singers and had a large campfire in the field. We then went to bed for our early wake up call. Troop 401 was being bused at 6am to Acton Boxboro High School to start our hike. The hike was led by the Acton Minutemen in traditional dress and Troop 1 of Acton, our hosts. We marched in line to the home of Isaac Davis and had a small presentation finished by the firing of muskets 3 times which was the signal used by Captain Davis as a call to arms. We then hiked to the center of Acton following the actual trail used by the Minutemen. After a short wreath ceremony, we began the 7 mile hike to the North Bridge in Concord. It was a long hike mostly on the town roads but had some areas through the woods. There were short spells of light rain for the entire hike making it a cool and comfy day to walk. There was a presentation by a park ranger at the bridge and it was back on the bus to the campsite to breakdown.
Troop 1 hosts this event every year. The standard hike is done with the town of Acton and the minutemen on Monday, Patriot's day in Massachusetts. To accommodate scouts from other states, the hike is done on Sundays every other year. It is a hike that should be on Troop 401s calendar every other year by the smiles in these pictures.
Please feel free to contact me anytime with words of wisdom, creative ideas, pictures etc. that you would like to add to the scout newsletter. Each entry is due by the second Wednesday of each month for placement in the following month’s newsletter.
Melissa Thomson, mlissat@comcast.net, 429-2805