Notes.app: Notes from iCloud show title but bodies are blank!

I have been using notes.app for a while, especially for its ability to use iCloud to sync. Everything has seemed fine, though it seems like some of my older notes' bodies are showing up blank.

I suspect that this is merely a retrieval/format issue, but I am also concerned that by looking at a note triggers an automatic save, which in turn does in fact replace iCloud's copy of that note with the now-blank version. I have stopped looking at older notes pending a solution in case looking is destructive.

How do I download an archive of my iCloud notes that I may preserve and peruse at my leisure?

Notes have been left from Mavericks, Yosemite, and iPhone 5s with iOS 7.1.2. I am currently retrieving them using Yosemite.