www.northwapiti.com/blog

Play Hard, Sleep Hard, and Get Your Toes Dirty Every Chance You Can...

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:50:00 +0000

I believe that most of the souls that pass through our lives do so for a reason. Sometimes the reasons are obvious and profound, sometimes the lessons so subtle we don't even realize that we have learned them.

I think I've figured out at least one of the reasons Bet has come to share my life.

She's trying to teach me to relax. I know - a border collie?? Aren't they renowned for being hyperactive?? Well, Bet is a high energy gal that plays hard but she is also very adept at resting well.

Really well...

I've figured out the high energy/playing hard stuff - but as any of you that have spent more then a day with me know, I'm not good at the 'resting hard' part.

Bet is setting a positive example for me....

She tells me the secret to life is simple -

Play Hard, Rest Hard, and Get Your Toes Dirty Every Chance You Can...

Smart dog, that Bet.

Thank Goodness I Wasn't 'Outted'

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:25:00 +0000

I’m jetting my way to Tennessee today to do a presentation for the Siberian Assist Rescue Group. As a wonderful treat, my friends Barbara and Jerry Lake, who donated my tickets to the Rescue Group, booked me to fly FIRST CLASS on the three hour leg from Salt Lake City to Atlanta. What a treat!!! Pillows, blankies, huge comfy seats, warm facecloths, a free meal (with REAL turkey in the sandwich – not processed turkey roll), wonderful service….this is traveling in style!!!!

I hope all the fancy people around me don’t figure out I’m a fraud!!! I brushed most of the dog hair off my clothes and I’m being careful about showing my hands, as the dirt embedded in my fingernails is bound to give me away!!

The water drops on my laptop screen probably don’t help either – they were splashed there when Bet shook after her bath the other day – but maybe folks with think it was spray from using my computer on my yacht (yeah, I can’t even spell yacht without spellchecker!!)

I’m sure it would all get old for me fast, but today I’m enjoying living outside my means!!!

Karen

Karen L and Mark Ramstead

NorthWapiti Kennels

Iditarod Finishing and Best in Show winning Siberians

"Pretty Sled Dogs"

www.northwapiti.com

Happiness is a Warm Puppy!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Sun, 24 May 2009 22:50:00 +0000

Crackle

Pop

Crackle, Snap and Pop

Snap

Crackle, Pop and Snap

Snap

Crackle

In case you are missing the theme - they are the 'Rice Krispies' and more pictures of them can be found at http://picasaweb.google.ca/northwapiti/TheRiceKrispies

Karen

Growing Up is Never Easy.

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:02:00 +0000

Even bratty little princesses eventually need to grow up. Yesterday the adorable and very spoiled Kim and Kelly took a big step towards their future careers as rough, tough sled dogs and moved out onto stakeouts.

Kelly

Kim

They complained with great enthusiasm about the injustice of it all.

Kelly

Kim

Astro, the 'ol hat' he is at this stakeout thing - throws a disgusted look the girls way!

Barq and Runner are unimpressed by the rantings of the Twins as the enjoy the early summer sunshine.

Kara was most unimpressed of all. ...

...she hung around pretending that she had never even seen the girls before!!

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming....

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:19:00 +0000

With the recent miserable weather and my cold, about the most exciting thing around here was watching Bet and Kara's 'passive aggressive' battle over the Cloud.

I'm really not sure how this is going to end up playing out, but my money is on Kara winning!

However exciting that is, yesterday morning we got back to real world

- running dogs!

Since our lives had been lacking excitement, we decided to up the anti and harness break young Astro!
Here he is hanging out with TopDog and Hector on the 'ready chain'

That's him three dogs up on the left!! Looks like a pro already - doesn't he?

There were a couple more 'firsts' on this run too!

NorthWapiti's Hillbilly - aka 'Billie' who just arrived back at the kennel from New Hampshire took her first run with us.

"Smile for the camera Billie!!!"

And NorthWapiti's Bango - aka 'Bang' ran lead for the first time for me.

All three had a great run! After 2 miles we swung back into the yard to drop of Astro (don't want to get those pups in over their heads) before heading out for another 3 miles.

Stopping for a water break!

Happy, tired Huskies!

Karen

Snow Day

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Wed, 20 May 2009 04:24:00 +0000

I took a few more pictures of the snowfall today, including some of young Astro out on a chain for the first time. You can see them on my Picasa site - http://picasaweb.google.com/northwapiti/SnowDay2

Utin

Karen

I Should Have Believed Her...

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:17:00 +0000

When I was talking to Lisa yesterday about booking a private lesson for Utin and I she insisted that we do it that day. She was babbling something about a heavy snowfall warning for the area for this morning and Wednesday. Frankly, I paid no attention. Spring is here - the woods are waking up, I've planted some plants, and purchased more that I intended to plant this week...no way it was going to snow.

I should have listened....

A Knead for Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:48:00 +0000

A million moons ago, shortly after Mark and I got married, Mark's Aunt Joanne taught me how to bake bread. I really enjoyed it and for a brief while all the bread in our house was homemade. However busy lives soon pushed that onto the backburner.

When they first came out, I bought a bread machine - but honestly, I never found tossing ingredients into the machine and closing the lid to really be rewarding - and the bread never really tasted that good. I'm not even sure where the machine is anymore.

For the last few months I kept telling myself I should make time to make some bread, but well...you know how these things go. This morning, despite the chilly weather I wasn't up to running dogs (still very run down from that nasty cold) - so I decided I needed to knead.

I forgot just how rewarding pounding and kneading bread is.

And, of course, the smell of baking bread filling the house was divine.

Before Utin, Bet, Toni, Corky and I headed over to Lisa's (private obedience lesson for Utin and I; Toni and Corky played on the agility equipment; and Bet got to hang out with other flop earred dogs) I tossed a stew in the slow cooker, so dinner tonight was thick slices of homemade bread dipped in stew.

Can it get much better??

Karen

A Walk in the Woods

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:33:00 +0000

I've been doing a fair amount of walking this spring - part of a commitment I made this winter to start taking better care of myself. Walking helps alot, both physically and mentally. Especially when I have such great company to join me.

For the last 3 days I've been mostly laid up with a nasty cold (yeah, that whole 'taking better care of myself is working out SO well), so walking hasn't been a priority (okay, I did stumble down the driveway in my pyjamas the other night at 9:30pm so Bet could blow off some energy - but that's been about it) but this morning I thought I was feeling a bit better so Kara, Bet and I headed out. Cricket usually joins us, but she was off in the woods on some important 'guardian dog' business.

Bet stretching her legs

Spring is always late coming down here in the valley. While leaves are already out up out of the valley, buds are still just forming down here. That's okay though, as it is interesting to watch the woods wake up - and there are signs that spring is coming!

As well as lots of signs of things that had to work hard to survive the cold, snowy winter we had.

And signs of some things that didn't survive...

We walked up the trail along the river bluff to my bench overlooking the big beaver pond. There I took some time to do some Tai Chi while Bet debated leaping over the cliff to chase ducks in the pond ....

and Kara took time to just hang out.

It was a very enjoyable walk. I can't wait to get completely over this annoying cold to get back out in the woods more!

Karen

One Cool Raven!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:03:00 +0000

If I haven't made it clear before, let it be said now - I love ravens. I think they are just the coolest birds and I have had many interesting and memorable encounters with them over the years.

My friend, Kelley Griffin, who shared one of my coolest raven encounters with me forwarded me this very neat video.

http://www.agmates.com/blog/2009/05/08/wind-surfing-incredible-video-of-the-day/

Hope you enjoy!

Karen

The Free Ride is Over...

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Sat, 09 May 2009 17:25:00 +0000

No one here rides for free. So this morning Bet started to earn her kibble.

Bet and Jack

Good job Bet!!!

Karen

12 Hours and Counting....

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Sat, 09 May 2009 12:52:00 +0000

Just 12 hours till I pick Helen up at the airport!!! Yup, THAT Helen!! She is flying out with NorthWapiti's HillBilly who is coming home from New Hampshire, visiting for 4 or so days then flying back east with Comet, who is going to a new home in Vermont and Odie, who is going for a 'summer holiday' in New Hampshire with Kim and Kelly Berg.
It's terrific that Helen is able to help out this way, but even better is that she is coming to visit! I can't wait.

Actually there is all sorts of things going on around here right now!

Toni is leaving to go home and 'dog sit' for her Mom for a week. Mark is busy working 'shut down' at the Mill. I'm busy working on a few presentations that I have in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and Mussfreebro, Tennessee later in the month.

My Mom and our mutual friend Marlene Daniels were up for a 2 day visit earlier in the week too! I hadn't seen my Mom in a LONG time (almost 2 years, I believe), so it was GREAT to see her!

Bet is continuing to settle in well. She and Kara are flaked out side by side on the floor right now catching a nap. Kara would never say it out loud, but I know she likes her new house mate!

Sprite's puppies are growing like weeds. They are a noisy and demanding threesome, but Sprite still seems to be enjoying them.
Seeing that their Mom is a 'Soda Pup' and their Dad a 'Chocolate Bar', I had been leaning towards 'junk food' for a theme for this litter. Things like Pretzel, Cheesie, Dorito, Nacho, etc, etc - however the other day when the valley was filling up with smoke I was thinking of Ash, Smoke and Blaze. And my most recent idea is Earth, Wind and Fire!
Still lots of time to mull it over!

Well, I need to get a bit of housecleaning done and a few loads of laundry through the wash before Toni and I head for the city, so time to polish off the last of the coffee and get on with the day!!

Hope you all have a great day!
Karen

You BET!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:22:00 +0000

A number of weeks ago, after searching the woods for the 4 male Toon puppies that we had been atttempting to free run (the older they are, they harder they are to keep around when free running), I got thinking. After the smoke cleared I phoned my dog training/sheep herding friend Lisa to bounce an idea off her -"Would a Border Collie be able to run with my puppies and lure them back when I called?"

She agreed that would probably work and after a bit more discussion I set the criteria of what I was looking for - an adult, smooth coated (one hairy beast - aka Cricket - in the yard is enough), small (I have aspirations of having a second house dog), working line (I like the spirit of Lisa's working line Border Collies) Border Collie.

Lisa mentioned that one of her mentors in the Border Collie world (and NWN list member - hey Jenny!!) Jenny Glen might have the perfect dog for me - a small, 2 year old female named Bet that was a bit of a 'wash out' at the 'sheep thing' (for the record, Jenny and her hubby Scott are not lightweights in the herding world - they demand alot from their herding dogs. Check out their website at http://www.altapetestockdogs.com/)

The Glens had just headed down to the US for 2 months of trialing and left Bet with a friend in southern Alberta. I emailed Jenny and she agreed with Lisa that Bet would probably be a good match for me. She told me to take her on a trial basis, so after a few impatient weeks of waiting for a ride north (thanks Lisa!) Bet arrived on Sunday evening.

Bet has been settling in very well - and today sent this email to her 'former' Mom -

"Dear Mom,

I hope you and the rest of the kennel are having a good time in the US. It pains me to write this letter, but it is only fair to keep you posted regarding the recent changes in my life.

As you are likely aware, while you have been away I have been pursuing some other career paths for my life. It’s not that I don’t love sheep but, as you know, I just don’t have the passion for it that you, Dad, Maid, Drift and the rest of the family have.

I recently stumbled across a sled dog kennel in northern Alberta. They are in dire need of someone to watch over the cats, snuggle with the owners at nighttime, hold down a few dog beds, exercise the house dog, run with sled dog puppies and generally help coach their Iditarod team. We are still ironing out a few details on the contract – like how much I am allowed to watch the cats – but we are all confident that negotiations will succeed. I have dazzled the kennel owners with my speed and snuggling ability – and am working on my confidence around the rather boisterous sled dogs.

I want to thank you for the great opportunities that you offered me in life. I hope you are not too disappointed in my career choice, but I must follow my heart. I am mailing home my ‘sheep dog’ collar, as I was recently given my very own ‘sled dog’ collar.

My new owners say that you are welcome to come visit me anytime and they will keep in touch with you regarding my progress and well being.

Much love,

Bet "

Jenny emailed back, sending Bet her love and best wishes. So I guess it is 'official' -

And here are some real pictures of Bet -

Kara actually seems to like her - honest!

Bet and Bait - a complicated relationship!

Karen

Congratulations

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:39:00 +0000

Big congratulations go out to our friends Jackie Wepruk and Rick Austin. They recently received word that their Siberian Husky, Triton – formally known as Tucoldturain's Triton RN CDX – was the Number 1 Siberian Husky in Canada in Obedience last year. Even more impressive Jackie and Triton also achieved the status of Number 5 Obedience dog in the Working Group for 2008.

Very, very impressive accomplishments!

While Jackie doesn’t make a big deal about it – this is the 3^rd different dog that she has accomplished Number 1 Obedience Siberian with – and Jackie can correct me on this if I’m wrong, but it’s got to be the 7^th time she has won this award with one of her dogs.

Way to go guys!!

Oh – and the ‘NorthWapiti’ connection to this – Triton is out of NorthWapiti’s Super Grover and NorthWapiti’s Skadi. We are very proud!!!

Karen

Where there is Smoke....

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:55:00 +0000

...thankfully, right now, there is no fire. The smoke in the valley tonight was from fires about 30 miles away in the Clyde area. Living in a valley, we are often surrounded by smoke from fires near and far. It makes for pretty sunsets on our evening walks, but is overall very unnerving!

It was still a lovely walk though.

Kara, who will be celebrating her 10th birthday this summer, enjoying the evening walk.

Cricket hears a critter in the woods and goes 'on guard'.

Tic, Bait and Cricket lagging behind.

And just who is that black and white creature in the front of the picture?? That is a tale for another blog. Bet you can't guess!!

Crunchie x Sprite Babes

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:44:00 +0000

One proud Mama!

In the Dark of the Night...

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Sun, 03 May 2009 16:52:00 +0000

Last evening was not really a special evening. After dinner (homemade Fried Chicken, Red Barn Corn and Bean Salad and Fries) Mark stayed in to finish watching his NASCAR race and Toni and I went out to feed.

Crunchie tried to choke himself on his collar in order to get fed first (it works all the time), Kara ran around like a puppy bouncing and barking to hurry us along, Grimmy hung over the 6 foot fence to get a better view of the feeding process, Barq did his patented ‘4 in the air’ jumps, very pregnant Sprite trotted slowly in her pen but still dove into her bowl, Jack SCREAMED at the top of his very ample and well exercised lungs….a evening like any other.

After the bowls were all picked up and the dogs bade ‘goodnight’ Toni headed to the house to shower before retiring to her cabin. Mark and I worked disinfecting the whelping pool and back room for Sprite’s Tuesday due date. I thought of moving her in before we went to bed, but decided to let the backroom dry completely overnight. We watched some TV and then crawled into bed.

Alittle after midnight Cricket and some girls near the ‘top’ of the yard were kicking up a fuss. I listened for a bit before deciding I better drag my butt out of bed to check things out. We had had a stray cat in the yard yesterday morning and I thought maybe he was back or lurking around.

I couldn’t pinpoint the exact problem but did a head count of the whole yard before heading back to the house. Mark had gotten up too and we watched a bit of TV while we made sure everyone was going to settle. The dogs fussed a bit more and I stepped out on the deck to see if I could hear what was up. All I heard was a owl hooting and a few coyotes making noise in the distance. I rounded up the cats and brought them in to see if that helped.

Around 1am I crawled back into bed. Not 15 minutes later the yard was fired up again. When I got out this time it looked like Comet and Smartie may have been exchanging a few words, but I couldn’t see what got them fired up to begin with. I muttered at them and then turned back to the house.

As I was walking to the house I noticed that Sprite hadn’t gotten up to watch the scrap. Sprite LOVES a good scrap, so that seemed odd to me. I called her name and her nose, but no more poked out of her dog house. Hmmm…. I stepped into her kennel and she still didn’t get up to greet me. As I bend down to her dog house door the reason for the unrest in the kennel became instantly obvious – tucked between her front legs was a new addition to the kennel. Sprite’s mouth split open in a big Siberian grin. She was obviously proud of her early and clandestine whelping.

I woke Mark up and lined the whelping pool with blankets while he grabbed a towel and a leash. The cats, just recently invited into the house, were unceremoniously kicked back outside.

When Mark reached in to gather up Sprite’s baby he got more than he bargained for - she was hiding 2 puppies in there!

Everyone got settled quickly into the back room and the pups – a dark red/white boy and a dark black/white girl - were checked over before they latched back onto one of Sprite’s nipples and resumed nursing.

I woke Toni up and she got to witness the birth of a nice dark grey and white girl. She and I stayed up and watched a few episodes of the Discovery channel’s Iditarod series before deciding Sprite was done for good and heading off to sleep.

It’s a quiet house this morning. It’s almost 11 am and Toni hasn’t wandered up from the cabin nor has Mark woken up. The dog yard is quiet – catching up on their lost sleep and enjoying the first really warm morning of spring. Sprite is happily settled in with her 3 lovely children.

All is good! Pictures soon!

Karen

Karen L and Mark Ramstead

NorthWapiti Kennels

Iditarod Finishing and Best in Show winning Siberians

"Pretty Sled Dogs"

www.northwapiti.com

School is IN

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:14:00 +0000

This is always a time of year when I work on developing new leaders.

One of the dogs that is showing great potential in lead is Watt. Many mushers would probably already consider him a 'leader' but I tend to expect a lot from my leaders and he is not quite 'there' yet for me.

This morning I hooked him up in lead with one of the best veteran leaders in the yard, his mother Olena. I told her this was her chance to fine tune her handsome son for me - and she seemed to take it to heart. For the next 5 miles Olena put Watt through school. He rose to the occasion, matching her performance almost stride for stride.

They even took a team with alot of youngsters on it through the river for the first time this season.

Although Toni did have to go sort out one or two small tangles.

When I called the team up for my 'go around loop', they left without a hint of hesitation. The nicest any team has done it all spring.

I think in the end 'The Evil One' was pretty proud of her kid - at least that is what the look on her face indicated!

Karen

Our New Logo

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:51:00 +0000

So, with a TREMENDOUS amount of help from Heather Walls and Dan Rehak we have a new kennel logo.

This isn’t a ‘year to year’ logo – we will still do some of those – but this is just a new overall, all purpose logo for the kennel. It was done by Canadian artist Shannon Robinson(www.shannonrobinsonart.com) and I just LOVE it (and am even thinking of getting a tattoo done of it – sorry Mom!).

Thanks to Penny Blankenship the new logo is up and available on a variety of merchandise on the Café Press site! http://www.cafepress.com/northwapiti/6651373

Karen

Odie and Moses

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 01:43:00 +0000

Odie and Moses are thinking of spending their summer out at Kelim Siberians
in New Hampshire. Both would be open to 'dating' approved Siberian ladies
while out that way, in fact they probably won't make the trip unless we can
line up a few stud services ahead of time.

Both boys are 3x Iditarod finishers, exceptional hard driving, leaders and
proven producers.

Please let me know if you might be interested.

Karen

Karen L and Mark Ramstead

NorthWapiti Kennels

Iditarod Finishing and Best in Show winning Siberians

"Pretty Sled Dogs"

www.northwapiti.com

Ya' Had To Be Expecting It....Being Alberta And All!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:52:00 +0000

This was the scene in the dog yard this morning!

Not that we really minded!

Even when it meant trudging through ice cold water.

Q has been managing to keep his 'sparkliness'!!!

Just to compare...

...a normal piebald in my yard (Wifi)...

...and His Q-ness. Still glowing!

Turtle

Rocky feeling very proud of himself - and rightfully so! He's a lovely young dog with a delightful attitude towards life.

Smartie and Bingo!!!

Notice by the end of the run the snow is already pretty much gone.

Still a good day!

Karen

Images from the Dog Yard

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:37:00 +0000

Toni and I were running around on the ATVs the other day checking out trails and I took a couple pictures around the valley - and stopped to cut a big bunch of pussy willows to add that spring touch to the house!
I had actually forgotten to bring scissors, but did have a pair of dog nail clippers in the ATV that worked excellent!

The Tawatinaw River Valley

The River - it's still running high. We got the ATVs across, but it is still too deep for the dogs.

Only little bits of snow are left around now!

When we came back to the yard, we stopped at the puppy pen to play with the Toons. Astro is one SUPER COOL pup and I asked him to pose for a picture - this is what I got!

Then this...

Then finally, his whole handsome head!

This is his adorable sister, Tramp.

More Tramp!

Grimmy and Toni

Tramp and Toni

This shot was actually taken a few days ago. Mark is busy burning everything that was in the puppy pens last year. Hard to burn $200 dog houses (the puppy ones are extra big) but neccesary to make sure we completely kick that awful Parvo bug from the kennel.

Yup, that is a bit of green! My chives are always the very first thing to come up in the spring. In past years they have actually pushed there way through the snow - tha isn't neccesary this year though!

Admist the dust and dirt...

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:37:00 +0000

Spring is not my favorite time in the dog yard. Although thanks to the kennel being on sand and worked into a hillside we don't get mud like alot of kennels do at this time of year, things are still dirty and dinghy.

However out in the yard tonight there is a sparkling bright spot....

See it...

Let me move closer...

There we go!!

A freshly polished and shined Q!!

Isn't he handsome??

The reason for his sparkliness???

A dog show!

I had mostly entered him to give him some more experience with indoor shows, but he decided that if he was going get 'all dressed up' it was going to be for a reason! So, on Saturday under judge John Rowton Q took Winner's Male, Best of Winners and Best of Opposite (over a Special, none the less) for his first 3 points.

Mr. Rowton had some very nice comments about my big, spotted sled dog!

And of course, his Mom insisted on a picture of the occasion!

Although I already know they are amazing, I am always impressed by my canine friends and how tolerant and accepting they are of all the strange demands I put upon them.

They continue to be my heroes.

Love ya Q-Tip!!

Karen

Testing New Technology

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:45:00 +0000

Blogging via email. They are making this easier and easier!

Right Beauty??

Karen

A Homecoming

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Ramstead) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:22:00 +0000

I think one of the things a responsible breeder does is to always provide a 'safe landing' place for any dog they have bred, for the lifetime of the dog.
We have over the years helped rehome a number of dogs whose living situation needed, for one reason or another, to change - and brought a number of these dogs back home to the kennel.

Late last year our friends the Carmichael's situation changed requiring them to rehome most of their dogs - a good number of them from here. I've been working with Kathy to help her find good situations for the dogs and almost all of them are now re situated. However one of them Kathy INSISTED needed to come back home, so this weekend, we welcomed Bang (NorthWapiti's Bango) back to Perryvale.

Bang seemed to remember the place and settled quite happily back into the yard. This morning we took her out for a run with the team and it seems she is going to make a seamless transition back into life here.

Seeing that she was a main leader for the Carmacks team, we have high hopes for her here too!!

BTW - Kathy still has a few dogs to place - mostly from NorthWapiti lines. A couple are working dogs and a few that would make tremendous pets. If anyone is interested, drop me a line at northwapiti@xplornet.com and I'll pass your message along to Kathy.

Welcome home Bang!!
(Pictures soon!)
Karen