Exibir resumos no tema SilverOrchid

Desculpem o assunto, sei que já tem perguntas respondidas sobre isso mas eu já apiquei e dica de trocar o:
<?php the_content(); ?>
Por:
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>

E mesmo assim minha página, neste tema, não exibe os resumos das categorias e sim o post completo….
Alguém pode me ajudar?

O Código de cada categoria é:

<?php
/**
 * Theme:  	  silverOrchid
 * Theme URL: http://gazpo.com/2012/04/silverorchid
 * Created:   April 2012
 * Author:    Sami Ch.
 * URL: 	  http://gazpo.com
 *
 **/
	$gazpo_settings = get_option( 'gazpo_options');
	$cat1_id = $gazpo_settings['gazpo_feat_cat1'];
	$cat1_name = get_cat_name($cat1_id);
	$cat1_url = get_category_link( $cat1_id );
?>

<div class="feat-cat">
	<h3 class="title"><a href="<?php echo esc_url( $cat1_url ); ?>" title="Category Name"><?php echo $cat1_name; ?></a></h3>
		<div class="category-content whitebg">
			<div class="left">
				<?php
					query_posts('cat='.$cat1_id.'&posts_per_page=1');
					if (have_posts()) :
						while (have_posts()) : the_post();
						//post thumbnail
						the_post_thumbnail( 'large' );
				?>
					<h3><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
					<div class="post-meta">
						<span class="date"><?php the_time('F j'); ?></span>
						<span class="comments"><?php comments_popup_link( __('no comments', 'silverorchid'), __( '1 comment', 'silverorchid'), __('% comments', 'silverorchid')); ?></span>
					</div>
					<p>
						<?php
							$content = get_the_content();
							$content = strip_tags($content);
							echo mb_substr($content, 0, 140). '...';
						?>
					</p>
				<?php
						endwhile;
					endif;
					wp_reset_query();
				?>
			</div>

			<div class="right">
				<ul>
				<?php
					query_posts('cat='.$cat1_id.'&posts_per_page=3&offset=1');
					if (have_posts()) :
						while (have_posts()) : the_post();
				?>
					<li>
						<div class="thumb">
							<?php the_post_thumbnail( 'thumbnail' ); ?>
						</div>
						<div class="post-right">
							<h5 class="title">
								<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>">
								<?php $short_title = mb_substr(the_title('','',FALSE),0,50);
								echo $short_title; if (strlen($short_title) >49){ echo '...'; } ?>
								</a>
							</h5>
							<div class="post-meta">
								<span class="date"><?php the_time('F j'); ?></span>
								<span class="comments"><?php comments_popup_link( __('no comments', 'silverorchid'), __( '1 comment', 'silverorchid'), __('% comments', 'silverorchid')); ?></span>
							</div>
							<p>
								<?php
									$content = get_the_content();
									$content = strip_tags($content);
									echo mb_substr($content, 0, 60). '...';
								?>
							</p>
						</div>
					</li>
					<?php
						endwhile;
					endif;
				wp_reset_query();
			?>						

				</ul>

			</div>
		</div>
</div>