🐹 Graceful Decorator 🦀🦀

Good morning, Bellingham. This is your Wednesday update from The Hamster Wheel.

Friends we made it!! 😁 

Have fun, and stay safe out there!

~ Evan

Nature, Community, Sasquatch, UAP

Photos From the Hoods

Tag @bellinghamsterwheel on Instagram, or reply to this email to get your photos in The Hamster Wheel.

Whatcom Weather

The Raindrop Report

Events, Updates & News Around Town

Get off the Hamster Wheel

Graceful Decorator

During a season that’s filled with decorations, it seems only fitting to spotlight a local critter that does the same! Meet the graceful decorator crab (Oregonia gracilis).

This decorator crab, one of a handful of species that camouflage this way, is common in the Salish Sea, inhabiting the intertidal zone down to depths of 1,300 feet. Their legs and carapace are covered in small hook-like hairs that act like Velcro, allowing them to carefully attach items from their environment, including neighboring organisms like algae, and sponges.

They are fond of mixed-composition sea bottoms where rocks, sand, shells, and sea greens offer them food and protection—which sounds exactly like the shoreline below Taylor Dock! If you’re on a Christmas morning walk tomorrow, and you see a wad of seaweed scurrying along the bottom, look closely and to see if it has eight spider-like legs and a pair of spindly claws.

Maple Alley Inn, an Opportunity Council program dedicated to serving healthy and sustaining meals and fighting hunger in Whatcom County, is holding a Holiday Luncheon today, December 24, from 11:30–1 pm at Faith Lutheran Church.

If Maple Alley Inn is new to you, the video above 👆️ provides a wonderful overview of their mission and story. A team of more than 60 volunteers prepares meals, serves them to community members, and tends to the program's vegetable garden. Visit oppco.org/maplealleyinn if you’d like to volunteer or support their mission with a donation.

I know this might seem like an odd topic for a Christmas edition, but let’s be honest — the holidays can be bloody stressful. When I saw this note on Western’s news feed, I thought it was worth sharing: the university’s Psychology Department is offering free individual counseling sessions for community members beginning in January 2026. The sessions are led by graduate students under faculty supervision. You can find all the details and sign-up information here.

Hakuna matata

To All Our Readers

Thanks for reading today’s edition. If you found something helpful, please share it with a friend and encourage them to click here to subscribe. 🙏

Reply to this email if you have news to share, an event you’d like me to know about, or to send me a love note. 💘