Ranch girls just wanna have fun

For someone who enjoys the company of others but lives on a ranch where the nearest neighbor is four miles away, Timber McPhaul's life on the Southern Cross Ranch may seem like a dichotomy, but she makes due with what she has. "The hardest thing is to stay involved in the community," she said. "I'm a social bug; sometimes I'm like I just need to see someone." McPhaul is a former competitive ballroom and swing dancer who teaches a class at the Quemado High School. She is now a full-time mother of daughter Denim Bleu, 3 1/2, and son Blazen Trails, 1 1/2, and helps her husband, Ace, on the ranch. "As a successful ranch wife, you participate in ranching," she said. "I can load the kids up and go with Ace. That way, you feel like you're a part than just sitting here at home. I would lose my mind." Living on the ranch near Pie Town in west-central New Mexico makes shopping trips few and far between and Timber said she usually travels to Socorro or Springerville, Ariz. "The hardest thing for me is groceries," she said. "If I go big shopping, I go every couple of months." The woman on this ranch said she likes to keep about six months' worth of canned food in the pantry and they usually butcher one beef cow a year. Most of their groceries are purchased in bulk, she said...Silver City Sun-News