I haven’t talked about Nevah’s and her best friend’s 8-day river cruise that started in Nashville, Tenn., on the Cumberland River and ended in Memphis on the Mississippi River.

She returned home with a lot of good memories. Attending the Grand Ol’ Opry and overnighting at the expansive Opry Land Hotel got her trip started. They also had a bus tour of famous places in Nashville.

First interesting stop along the way included navigating the locks going downriver at the Land Between the Lakes. Then they overnighted in Clarksville, Tenn., where they took in Clarksville’s Musical History, Ft. Defiance Civil War Park, a lunch program provided by Johnny Cash’s grandson and other kin, and touring Old Glory Distilling.

Next stop wuz in Dover, Tenn. Highlights there included touring Fort Donelson and a 1850s Farm & Living History Museum. On their float downriver, they enjoyed a presentation on the Roots and Branches of Bluegrass Music.

Next port for two days wuz Paducah, Ky. There they leisurely took in a local tour of the National Quilt Museum, the arts district, the Lloyd Tilghman House, the Paducah Railroad Museum and the Inland Waterways Museum.

Memphis wuz their final stop. Naturally, they took in the day-tour of Elvis Presley’s Graceland and topped the evening off watching the Beale Street Blues All-Stars.

Nevah said every evening on ship they had music entertainment of country western, bluegrass or blues. Naturally, they ate and drank well and floated by a lot of pretty big river countryside. There were 180 folks on the cruise.

That pretty well sums up the highlights of her trip. But, now I’ve got to mention that she brought back more than good memories from her trip. Unfortunately for both of us, she also brought back the ever-lurking Covid. She came down with it the day she arrived home. Five days later, the disease nailed me. Fortunately, both our cases were pretty mild as far as Covid goes. Just lots of coughing, sniffling, and lack of energy for about four days.

***

And, that’s not all the health news about me. My dermatologist, ol’ Dr. Slysin Dysim, had a field day carving on me. He took a pre-cancerous hunk out of my right calf muscle, sliced a biopsy chunk off my left ear, and shaved another little chunk off a suspicious mole on my back.

When I wuz reclined on the operating table, Doc had to cauterize the wound before he started sewing me up. It smelled like cooking steak, so I told him that I liked my steak’s medium-rare. He got a chuckle out of that comment. Happily, I’m on the mend from the whole ordeal.

***

I had an interesting thing happen in my garage a couple of days ago. The garage doors were up. When I went into the garage, I saw a young ruby-throated hummingbird had flown into the garage and its bird-brain went on vacation. That silly little bird just kept trying to fly upward and didn’t have the knowledge to understand if it just dropped down 18-inches, it would see the doors were open.

I watched it until it got so tired it rested on the door hardware. Finally, I left it alone and it eventually found its way outdoors. At least, I haven’t found a hummingbird carcass in the garage.

***

Two days ago, Nevah and I got stir-crazy in the house and took a little outdoors excursion to Alcove Springs, about 40 miles away close to Blue Rapids, Kan. We’d never been there but knew there wuz a lot of history at the location.

The limestone spring and waterfall on a 200-acre preserve wuz a popular stopping point on the pioneer Oregon Trail. When the Blue River wuz flooding, Alcove Springs wuz the handiest spot for the pioneers to wait until they could cross. It’s just a few miles west of Marysville.

The historical sign at Alcove Springs said it hosted such luminaries as John C. Fremont of California fame, Marcus and Eliza Whitman who settled in Walla Walla, Washington, and the ill-fated Donner Party, which, as it turned out, would have been smart to have stayed in Kansas.

It wuz easy for me to envision little pioneer kids playing in the spring and waterfall. As, I’m sure, little Native American kids did for centuries before the pioneers.

Sadly, the spring wuz barely trickling on our visit. I suspect that all the invasive cedar trees, hedge trees and brush upstream of the waterfall is sapping the spring water unless it’s the rainy season. We’re glad we made the trip. Another local travel item off our bucket list.

***

My garden is tapering off. Tomatoes and okra are still so plentiful that we’re sharing with friends and family. I’m still shelling dry beans as they mature. The fall radishes are still producing.

Nevah and I swapped some of our tomatoes with friends for some of their excellent homegrown apples. Nevah made us a yummy apple pie from that trade.

My fall planting of tomatoes and sweet corn is growing fast and furious. It will be a race against the frost to see if either produces this fall.

***

My words of wisdom for this week come from a wall-hanging in our guest bathroom, about 10 steps from where I sit in my office. Nevah hung it supposedly for everyone, but I think the “Rules of the Bathroom” had me in mind. The Rules of the Bathroom are: “If you lift it up, put it down. If you miss, clean it up. If it runs out, replace it. If you’re finished, flush it. It it smells, spray it.”

Have a good ‘un.

Every once in a while one of my faithful readers comments on the wide range of friends that I’ve mentioned in my columns. And, it’s true. After writing this column every week for more than 50 years, I’ve interacted with, (or simply created out of thin air) rural folks who cover about every aspect of farming, ranching and agribusiness — and the professionals who interact with aggies.

So, that got me to thinking that perhaps this week would be a good time to review the descriptive names of some of my favorite folks who I’ve written about down through the years. Here’s the names that pop up in my memory.

Of course, I’ve got to start off with my long-suffering wife, Nevah Yield.

And, my long-departed good ol’ dad, Czar E. Yield, who at times had difficulty achieving good crop yields on his farm, but still managed to earn two different county soil conservation awards.

Harley Ryder is my motorcycle-loving son-in-law.

Nick deHyde is my careless Iowa sheep shearing buddy and the poor sheep pay the price.

Phil Tanks delivered my propane for years.

Kleenan Baggitt operated a fine seed cleaning business.

Hayes T. Speaker cried many an auction — both big and small.

Saul M. Reeder wuz a devout lay minister in the Lutheran Church who I respected for his deep-seated beliefs.

Canby Handy and his wife May Bea Handy are old friends who can easily handle any task that they encounter.

Howie Doin wuz an old friend who never met a person he didn’t want to engage in conversation.

Armin Cider is the best dairy cow artificial inseminator that I ever met.

Parker Loosely is a farmer friend who learned from sad experience the cost of not setting the emergency brake on his pickup truck.

Sawyer Bord is a retired carpenter extraordinaire who could take a pile of lumber and build you a fantastic set of kitchen cabinets.

Moecephas wuz like Hank Williams, Jr. All his rowdy friends had settled down, but he still enjoyed fishing and card playing.

Avery Ware is a retired county extension agent who worked in the same county all his professional life and could be relied upon to show up everywhere he wuz needed.

Dr. Polk N. Prod handled all my medical problems for many years.

Dr. Pillson Vax wuz my reliable veterinarian for years.

Willie Makitt is a Missouri farmer who always claimed he could build in his farm shop about any thing he needed on his farm.

P.N. Cilpusher, of course, wuz my long-time tax guru and financial advisor.

Lon G. Horner wuz a pre-eminent breeder and exhibitor of longhorn cattle.

Bob Doff is my newest friend in Riley. He self-describes himself as “height challenged.”

Finn N. Furrs has established premier wildlife habitat on his Flint Hills farm. He is a natural resource conservationist of the highest oder, and a good quail shot, too.

Rocky Crick is a Flint Hills rancher who out of necessity has become highly experienced at repairing washed-out water gaps.

Faren Wyde operates a Flint Hills ranch with a hill so high it seems a person can see forever from the top.

Claude Hopper is my farmer-friend and old college roommate who quit turning the clods on his farm several years ago and retired.

Myris Snipedown could be counted on to get any vehicle he wuz driving either stuck in the mud or high-centered. He never left home without a chain.

Nutson Boltz runs a farmer-friendly small-town hardware. He stocks anything you need for the farm, ranch, garden or home.

Nalon Shews is a farrier with a satisfied equine clientele far and wide.

Rapsum Tite makes big round hay bales perfect for shipping on a flatbed semi.

Phil M. Rodeholes does his best as maintaining county gravel roads, but still gets more gripes than complaints from the folks who have to drive over them.

Canlay Rox is a stonemason who, for the right price, can turn a pile of ugly limestone into an bragging-rights home that will stand for centuries.

Ike N. Ketchem operates the headgate of a cattle chute better than anyone. He’s the feedlots’s man in charge of working newly-arrived cattle.

Buzz N. Comb wuz the small-town barber who cut my hair when I wuz a little kid. I still recall enjoying the Garst & Thomas outdoor-themed calendars in his shop.

***

Well, that’s sufficient names of friends for this week. Perhaps more in another future column.

Next column I’ll be reliving a memorable trip that ol’ Canby Handy and I took this week to Ainsworth, Neb.,

***

Words of political wisdom for this week straight from the mouth of my friend, ol’

Wright deLaws, a state senator in the Nebraska unicameral legislature. He said, “I’ve learned that 70 percent of the voters are totally ignorant about who they vote for. And, I’m just glad that I’m in the other 40 percent.”

Have a good ‘un.