The Blufftop Adventures of Minnie the Goat

The inspiration for this book came to me after I heard reports of an elusive white goat living on a stone-faced bluff near my home. Thus, The Blufftop Adventures of Minnie the Goat, a fictional children's story based on real events, became mine to share with you.

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Each year, Frontenac State Park contracts to have a herd of twenty to thirty goats brought to the bluff top prairie to eat invasive buckthorn shrubs. In the fall, after the buckthorn has been eaten, the goats are taken back to winter on a local farm.

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Somehow, Minnie escaped three fall roundups and did not return to the farm with the rest of the herd. She has spent three winters atop "Prairie Bluff", braving the elements and thriving. She has become a legend among local residents, who have nicknamed her "White Lightning".

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Most of the time, she is very elusive--especially in the summer, when lush foliage conceals her. Throughout the rest of the year, she is occasionally visible from our house. On sunny winter afternoons, her gleaming white coat can be spotted as she rests on a rocky ledge overlooking the highway, just watching the world go by....