Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Articles written by Kay Chamberlain


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  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Jul 3, 2025

    WARMED UP. As this week begins, we’re definitely soaking in the sunshine after experiencing some drizzly weather at the end of last week, particularly in the morning hours around here. Of course, I heard it was dry in Cathlamet, so I guess we’re just special out here in West Valley — when no one else is getting the wet stuff, we often are. With a dry spell coming up, I’m thankful we had the moisture we did. But now, it’s haymaking time, so this dry stretch is very welcome for those trying to get crops cut, let to dry, tedded, raked into wind...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Jun 26, 2025

    DECENT START. As this week begins on Sunday morning, I’m seeing some sunshine that’s making the wet grass and trees sparkle, so it’s a nice change from Saturday, when it poured on and off all day. We had an inch of rain by noon here in the West Valley, so it was definitely soggy. This last weekend in June is looking much nicer… fingers crossed! SPECIAL DAYS. Those celebrating their birthdays from June 26 to July 4 are Lance Britt, Cliff Garrison, Don Speranza, Sandie York, Austin Luthi, Tanya Cleveland, Heidi Boehler, Andrew Nortrup, Cooper...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Jun 19, 2025

    CLOUDY BUT DRY. As this week begins, it’s a bit cloudy, but at least it’s not raining... not yet, that is. However, by the end of this week, the chances of rain showers are looking to increase. While we may not like to see that happening so late in June, I’m thankful it will help deter the chances of wildfires here. Many areas are currently reeling from these fast-spreading wildfires. I really won’t complain about the rain, as it adds to our water systems and waters my plants, so I don’t have to. SPECIAL DAYS. Those celebrating birthdays...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Jun 12, 2025

    SUPER NICE. As last week ended and this one began, it was super nice outside and plenty warm. I’m not a heat lover, but for those who are, it looks like you’ll enjoy several days of sunny weather. By the time you read this, the hottest days should be behind us, and that won’t hurt my feelings any. The heat meant watering those plants a little extra this week, so I hope you didn’t forget, as it’s frustrating to buy a bunch of new plants or have a bunch of garden starts come up, only to have them all dry up, and you have to start over. Here’s to...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Jun 5, 2025

    NICE NOW. As I begin this column, we are beginning this new month with some sunshine for the week ahead. We ended the month of May with a nice day too, although we certainly wished the day before had been a bit nicer, as the morning hours were pretty soggy, and it didn’t make for a great day for the Car Show on Saturday morning, which was a real shame. Thankfully, things cleared up so that those cooking fish over at Norse Hall only had to deal with some wind. It was great to see a decent crowd there, and we all seemed to be enjoying the fish d...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|May 29, 2025

    CLOUDY BEGINNING. Well, as this week begins, our sunny Saturday has been replaced by a cloudy, dry Sunday—not too bad. My weather app for the week only shows a couple of days with a chance of showers, so that would be great—it certainly beats a week of rain! We may catch up on some yardwork, as there seems to be a six-inch growth spurt of the weeds every other day… tough to keep up with all the grass and weed-eating these days! SPECIAL DAYS. Those celebrating birthdays the May 29 through June 5 are Serene Snow, David Michaels, Jeanne Pauls...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|May 22, 2025

    DAMP. This past weekend was a bit soggy but how soggy depends on where you were located. One friend of mine was experiencing "buckets" of rain just a few miles east of me, while I was just sitting under some clouds with occasional sprinkles and a dash of sunshine thrown in. Now, nighttime was a different story, as it poured off and on Saturday night. I'm hoping that by the end of the month we have some drier weather showing up since there are many events planned and they are much more enjoyable when the sun is shining! Regardless, we are much...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|May 15, 2025

    NICE START/BIG CHANGE. As this past weekend began, it was pretty doggone nice, but as we all know, things can go from sunshine to soggy real quick around here, and well, as of this writing, that’s exactly the case. The sunshine is now “liquid sunshine” and is expected to last the week... let’s hope they’re wrong! I know spring showers bring spring flowers, but they also make some of my pretty flowers that have already bloomed turn to mush... ugh! Anyway, here’s to showers and no hard downpours. Maybe things will get a bit of drink and not dro...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|May 8, 2025

    DRY SPELL? I understand that there are a lot of dry days in the forecast this week, and I hope you’ll be able to get out and enjoy them. It’s that time of year when we’re trying to tame our lawns and get control of those weeds and such, which seem to grow ten inches overnight… ha! We may dry out quickly, so be very careful with any fires you may be lighting up around your property. For you folks who may be new to the area, a burn permit is needed if you’re going to burn on your property, and when you do acquire the permit, a call to the Sheri...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|May 1, 2025

    SUPER NICE. Well, if you like the sunshine, the last couple of days of the previous week were likely your favorite as the sun was shining, the temperatures were nice and warm, and it was a great time to mow that lawn and wash your car! It was also a good time to go out and about and enjoy the warmer temperatures with your friends on the beach or have a BBQ! This week, we have a mixed bag with some rain possible on a couple of days, cloudy but dry weather for a few days, and some in-and-out sunshine for a couple more. It looks like there's...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Apr 24, 2025

    WET START. It was a bit damp on Easter Sunday out here in West Valley, but I see folks in various parts of the county who seemed to have a bit more sunshine than we did on this holiday. Anyway, I’m happy that the Easter Egg hunts at the fairgrounds on Saturday wound up having a decent day, albeit a tad bit windy and cool at times, but that beats the rain! It also beats the areas east of us, which had sunshine one day, then snow, and even massive hail storms the next, causing extreme damage to hotel windows and car windshields and closing m...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Apr 17, 2025

    NICE BEGINNING. As this week begins, it’s a sunny Sunday following a fairly chilly evening and a foggy start, but boy, is it nice to see the sunshine. Better yet, our forecast looks dry for the entire week, so now we’ll keep our fingers crossed that it stays this way. I know the folks organizing Easter Egg Hunts, as well as those dressing in their Sunday best to get to church, would love to see some lovely, dry, sunny days this coming weekend. It would also be great for those who enjoy being out in their yards and sprucing them up a bit, as,...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Apr 10, 2025

    HALF AND HALF. The first half of this past weekend was just gorgeous, and I heard a lot of lawnmowers going and trimmers trimming. It was truly a day to get out there and soak up some sunshine… awesome. Then, here comes Sunday, and it was the flip side of the day before: super wet and nasty. Definitely a day to cozy up and watch a bit of television. However, if the forecast holds true, we may have a decent three-day stretch of weather, but even if it’s just two, I’ll be thrilled. For now, it’s time to put away the yard tools and keep those u...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Apr 3, 2025

    BIG STORM? We received numerous warnings last week about a major storm approaching. As time went by, more updates came in saying it was going to hit us pretty hard. However, not much happened except for some loud thunder and lightning, but nothing too awful. Hooray! I scrambled around getting everything nailed down and put away, but that’s ok as it’s much better to be prepared for the worst and have nothing happen than to be caught unprepared and now all your things are scattered far and wide. Always err on the side of caution, and you wil...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Mar 27, 2025

    STILL SOGGY. As I write this column, a little later than usual, it’s another soggy day in Skamokawa. I hear that Tuesday is supposed to be nice, though, so I’m holding out hope for at least one decent day as the rest of the week looks pretty doggone-wet to me. Once again, keep the boots and umbrellas handy. If you live in a low-lying area and all this rain hits us, be prepared for possible flooding. However, we’ll keep our fingers crossed that it doesn’t materialize! SPECIAL DAYS. Those folks celebrating birthdays from March 27 through April 3...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Mar 20, 2025

    ANOTHER WET WEEK. This whole week looks wet and soggy except for one day, and I am pretty sure “spring sprung a leak,” A big one. I wish someone would plug it up. It’s nice to get some rain, but every day seems like a bit much. Though I’ll take the rain over the horrible weather that is happening East and Southeast of us, some areas wound up with a ton of snow, which caused huge accidents and shut down freeways. Of course, the massive number of tornadoes and fires that have just ravaged areas from Oklahoma to Mississippi up to Illinois and eve...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Mar 13, 2025

    STAYING DRY? Well, by the time you read this, we’ll have had quite a bit of rain with more due, but maybe, just maybe, we didn’t get the steady rainfall the entire time as we all know what that means: flooding. The weather service had also mentioned times of “blustery conditions,” so let’s hope your power stayed on and we didn’t have any rock or mud slides. This may be yet another time when we find out just how prepared we are for these storms. As we head into this third week of March after switching to Daylight Savings Time, I hope everyo...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Mar 6, 2025

    WILD AND MISERABLE. After I turned in my column last week, the storm that we were expecting definitely showed up and boy did it ever pack a wallop. For many, there was plenty of wind and rain, but you didn't get the brunt of it like most of us did that were west of Cathlamet, as a major power line lead came down and kept a good chunk of us without power for twelve hours. This is one of those times when you get to test out just how prepared you are for a situation like this. We have been warned repeatedly to "be ready" but are we really? Being...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Feb 27, 2025

    WET ENOUGH. By the time you read this, I am hoping we are still afloat and drying out a bit. Man, oh man, has it been pouring or what? The ole atmospheric river started in on us on Saturday, Feb. 22 but it is supposed to quit long before you read this. I sure hope it does because this is miserable. By the time you get this paper, we are supposed to be dry for a couple of days, and that sure would allow my webbed feet to dry out a spell. At any rate, I hope we didn’t sustain too much damage from flooding, slides or any other bad thing that could...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Feb 20, 2025

    FROM SNOWSCAPE TO SOGFEST. Well, we had a nasty bit of snow last week and it sure did disrupt a whole lot of events and our daily routines. Slipping and sliding seemed to be all too common and it was advised for those who didn’t have to be out and about to stay home; it was treacherous out there. Snow was falling rapidly out here in West Valley for a while, and I was afraid we would repeat the 1990 snowstorm when we went from six inches of the white stuff to about two feet overnight. Thankfully, we didn’t have a repeat of that, and people got...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Feb 13, 2025

    COLD AND COLDER? Last week was plenty cold, with temperatures down to 23 degrees here in the west valley, which allowed the fallen snow from earlier in the week to linger. Thankfully, as I begin this column at the start of a new week, it’s about gone. This week is looking to be just as frigid, and I hope you all survive with no frozen pipes. My weather app is showing temperatures down in the teens... burr! We’ll be warming up for the weekend and getting some rain, which isn’t great, but it beats many other options. I wonder if the rain might...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Feb 6, 2025

    WHITE WORLD! As I begin this column on the first Sunday in February, it is a white world in West Valley in good old Skamokawa! It was like a blizzard for a time, with huge white flakes. The biggest I’d ever seen, and then they changed into a bunch of tiny flakes; blowing all around our house like a whirlwind, wild! I must say that I did enjoy the sunshine break that came shortly after, as I was afraid we would wind up with feet of snow if the snowy sessions continued much longer. At any rate, for those of you who are snow lovers, I hope you’re...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Jan 30, 2025

    COLD ENOUGH? Well, as I begin this column, it is dropping in the lower twenties, and I must tell you, I’m not a fan of that kind of cold... brr! As a matter of fact, it dropped 20 degrees in only 90 minutes here in West Valley earlier. The decent temperatures we saw earlier in the day were gone in a flash as the temperatures plummeted. From the sound of it, many folks were having plumbing problems, which I’m guessing were related to the extreme cold and resulted in frozen and broken pipes. I do hope you’re all doing better in that regard by no...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Jan 23, 2025

    FRIGID TEMPS. I cannot tell you how much I detest the bitter cold and with temperatures down in the low twenties this past week, I am definitely not a happy camper! While other areas were bright and sunny, those here in the West Valley also had some very thick fog, which did not leave for most of the day, and the dampness made for an extra layer of frost as well. Leaving from sunny Cathlamet last Friday, I drove into the “wall of fog” that sits right outside of Skamokawa and along the rock wall/rock pit area. My temperature gauge was dro...

  • Skamokawa News

    Kay Chamberlain|Jan 16, 2025

    LOOKING COLD. I’m writing this at the beginning of the week as it’s clearing up after some rain. The forecast for this week looks quite nippy, so by the time you read this, you’ll have felt the freezing temperatures for yourself if the forecast is accurate. Of course, I live in one of our county’s cold zones, so you might luck out and be chilly but not frozen. At any rate, this is the time of year to have those outside pipes, plants, etc., all taken care of so they don’t freeze. Then you can relax a bit knowing that you’ve done all you can to p...

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