How to Adjust the Width on the New Templates

I've enjoyed seeing which new templates people are choosing, and the ways they set them up.  I would like to have 3 columns like many do, but I can't figure a way to get my large photos centered.  I just don't think it works.

Jacqueline from Purple Chocolat Home, asked me to come tell her how I adjusted the width of my blog.  I figured others may not have found where to do it yet, either, so I will let you know.  If you have discovered any tricks or tips, please leave a comment, and if you want, a link to your blog in the comment to fill us in on what all fun things we can do.

What I did do, was go into "layout" and saw that you could adjust the width.  It's in the second column, after, "Body Layout" and "Footer Layout".  I drug the little arrow for the entire blog clear to the right, to make it the widest I could, then adjusted the right sidebar until the photos on both sides were pretty much centered.  My numbers ended up being 1,000 and 230 px.

I just went to Jacqueline's blog, and saw that she is not using a Blogger template, so I don't know if this will be helpful.  Jacqueline, maybe you can use the numbers of px to find a way to adjust yours.

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Wildish Flowers

I get a bit confused on what flowers are wild.  I looked some of these up to be sure.  I love mixing annuals, perennials, herbs, wild, and some native plants in my flower beds.  I am linking these photos up with Jean's Bloomin' Tuesday, and Gail's once month Wildflower Wednesday.

I just looked it up, and found that this 'Gateway' Joe Pye weed is a cultivar, and is shorter and bushier than the wild flower.  I just planted it in the spring.  I'll have to watch to see if bees or butterflies like it.  (That's the 'Orange Perfection'  phlox to the right.)

There were Queen Anne's lace seedlings all over the front yard bed.  I dug out most of them.  I didn't think the ones I left would get big enough to bloom this year, but one is blooming at about a foot tall.

These are the coneflowers that were 'White Swan' about 12 years ago, but are now purple.  An agasache is next to them.

I normally deadhead the narrow leaved coneflowers, but experimented with keeping them for the birds to eat, and to see if they reseed themselves.

The rattlesnake master is still looking good near it's less wild neighbors, love lies bleeding and hibiscus.

The sea hollies are almost finished, but looking OK at this point.

I couldn't get a good photo of the skullcap, 'Mongolian Skies'.  It's just beginning to bloom, and is one of my favorites.

Most of the liatris are finished blooming.  The milkweed is not blooming yet, partly because I cut it back.

I don't know why I just discovered ironweed this season, but I'm glad I found 2 kinds.  I am tickled this one has buds on it.

This butterfly milkweed is full of blooms.  The one I showed awhile back with a caterpillar died, but not from the caterpillar eating it.

I love short toothed mountain mint.  It was looking to be a spreader, but by picking up the stems where they have fallen down, the spreading is prevented, (so far).

You may have to look close to see that there are 2 kinds of tall yellow flowers.

The taller, closer to the house, are rudbeckia, 'Herbstonne'.

The ones in front of them are gray headed coneflowers.

I like this shorter liatris. The black eyed Susans are at their prime.  The amsonia 'Hubrichtii' foliage is looking good.

The anise hyssop, both an herb and a wildflower, has been blooming a few days.  These are volunteers.  I had to pull some out so there wouldn't be too many.

The amsonia 'Tabernaemontana', that I cut back shortly after it bloomed, has grown and gotten leggy.  I'll probably trim it back again.  The false sunflower is tall like it was last year, and the baptisia has nice dark seedpods.  Some years I cut it back, but lately, haven't been.

I didn't get many globe thistles cut to dry because there have been so many bees on them.    The milkweed in front of the globe thistle is 'Hello Yellow'.  The goldenrod is one that I bought for my father-in-law around 18 years ago.  This division survived being moved from the side of the shed to protect it from the work that was to be done on the shed.  I cut it back early in the summer so it would be bushy and not bloom too soon.

I missed the prime bloom time for the lead plant.  Every year, I say I'm going to find out when to pick it to dry for tea.  I wonder if it's too late.

There area some wild petunias in the vegetable garden and in the back yard.

I don't know the name of this, but I'm thinking they are a rudbeckia of some kind.  I pull out a lot of seedlings some years, because I don't want it to take over.  This is the north side of the garage, so it's not full sun, but I think it prefers full sun.  That's white obedient plant between this and some sweet peas.

I deadheaded the butter and eggs after the first blooms, and they have a nice new set of flowers.

The rough goldenrod has buds.  I don't remember how long it held onto them last year before they opened.

I hope your week is going well.  I am not getting to garden as much the last week or so, because I am experiencing pain in my jaw that looks to be TMJD, from what I'm reading on the internet.  The pain seems to get worse when I am doing physical activities, like pulling weeds or hoeing.  My dentist referred me to a TMJ doctor to get a night splint for my jaw grinding, but I'm following some home care tips first to see if they help before making that appointment.  Even with insurance, it looks like it will be expensive.  Have any of you had jaw pain before?

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Some Nice Surprises for Friday's Post

I had been feeling sad that the daylilies and some other flowers were about finished blooming for the season, and was thinking the flower beds were going to be lacking in color until the fall flowers bloom.  Over the last few days, I have found plenty of summer blooms opening up to show for Tootsie's Flaunt your Flowers/Fertilizer Friday.  

The 'Gateway' Joe Pye weed  and 'Orange Perfection' phlox have joined the hibiscus, coneflowers, and such.

I have been wondering if my 2 surprise lilies were going to bloom this year.  The foliage came up the last two springs, but they didn't bloom last year.  I was very tickled to see a bloom stalk coming up a couple days ago.  I had to move a few things around to find the other one, because I had covered it with a pot.  It seems to be recovering fine.

I didn't think this 'Cherry Blossom Magic Fountains' would bloom this year.  It's less than a foot tall.  It's a nice surprise to see.

The 'Ruby Tuesday' helenium is blooming much later than the one I think is 'Mardi Gras'.   I just notice these blooms today. 

Another nice surprise is the delphinium that got so tall this summer, is now blooming again, only shorter.

See?

Kiss me over the garden gate is blooming shorter and later than last year. By the end of the summer, I have a feeling it will be much taller.  I remember it still grows while it's blooming.

My neighbor's celosias are huge and blooming.  These, that I planted from her saved seed last year, and then seeded themselves, finally decided to come up.  What a surprise!  I wonder if they will bloom before summer is over.  I need to move them, because they are right by the small delphinium, and this recently planted lavender.

We're leaving the main front yard bed.  I was able to get a better photo of the skullcap in the curb bed, I showed in my Wildflower Wednesday post.

This 'Black Night' butterfly bush I planted near the sidewalk on the west edge of the yard, next to the wash tubs last year, is a bit spindly, but the blooms opened a day or two ago.

I almost didn't notice the little bellflowers have opened.  I think they are 'Blue Clips'.   I love the  rudbeckia.  We still haven't sunk the tub so the bear's breetches don't spread too far.

Tootsie told us she was going to do something different this week.  I see she posted photos from a gardener who doesn't blog.  It looks to be a nice place.  I need to go back and look more closely.

I am needing to limit my computer time somewhat because of jaw pain, which seems to be affected when I use the muscles on my right side.  I am finding that sitting where I can lean back helps.  I  hope to visit the Friday posts after catching up from my last post.

Have a great weekend!

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Oxo Sink Strainer - Gift From The Kitchen Gods

We've landed here in Woodstock. The house we're in is lovely -- spacious and open. And the kitchen is big and beautiful. I will post some photos soon. In the meantime, I wanted to share my favorite new gift from the kitchen gods with you all. 

Although I love the sink in our new kitchen, I did not love the drain covers that came with it. They're your typical drain cover type deals but their little push-pull mechanisms never work for some reason so they make it nearly impossible to let the water drain out without removing them. But, of course, removing them lets too much food go down the drain (this is composting country, after all, not in-sink garbage disposal country.)

But then I happened upon these awesome Oxo drain strainer on one of my many recent trips to Bed, Bath & Beyond or somesuch place.

They're made of silicone, which is very flexible and allows you to just flip the thing inside out over the compost bucket or garbage can for super easy cleaning.

And they look nice, stay put, and won't scratch your sink, too. At $6 a pop, what's not to like?

Browse through more Gifts From The Kitchen Gods:

• Better Than Bouillon
• Fresh, Frozen Herbs
• Ginger Syrup
• Immersion Blender
• Microplane Zester
• Plastic Pot & Pan Scraper
• Pomegranate Molasses
• Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale Mustard
• Soft Skin Fruit and Vegetable Peeler

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Flowers for Friday

I've been so busy this summer trying to keep up with gardening and housework, that I haven't done much else.  The Special Olympics National Games have been in my city this week, and I managed to go to a few of the events Tuesday and Wednesday.  I was disappointed not many other locals took advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity.  I wish I'd have had my camera there.  Well, I did on Thursday, but then remembered the batteries were low, so I left it in the car.  I did get it out when I saw a butterfly.  I'll post the butterfly Saturday.  (I got some event  photos taken with my cell phone, but haven't looked at them to see if you can see what's going on in them.)

I going to have fewer photos than usual this week for Tootsie's Flaunt your Flowers/Fertilizer Friday.  I am sad that the daylilies are almost finished, but some of the annuals are finally starting to grow and bloom.  Some of the goldenrods are blooming, too, and the rest are forming buds.  The asters are forming buds, too, but they hold on to theirs awhile before they open.

The phlox, 'Orange Perfection' is blooming later than last year.  It almost looks orange in this photo.  The first time I saw it bloom, I thought it had come with the wrong tag.  When I looked it up, I saw it's not really so orange.

I did make it to a few garage sales last Friday, and this hen is one of the things I got for the yard.  It has a nice little drinking area for critters.  I wonder if you're supposed to put bird seeds there.  The annual black eyed Susan is blooming nicely.  The German statice looks good, even when it gets dry.  I had enough to cut for drying inside, and still have some for color in the garden.  It looks like I need to deadhead the Veronica.

I planted flower seeds in some of the tubs to save money, then got impatient and planted other things in them.  I was glad to see this gomphrena up awhile back, and now, it is blooming, quite close to the strawflowers I planted.

Some of the strawflower blooms are past the point to pick for drying.  I need to get out there and harvest them.  I use the blooms in baskets or other containers, and put other dried flowers in with them.  The gomphrena is in the lower left corner of this photo.  I'm glad I had extra sweet potatoes to plant in some of the tubs, because most of the ones I put in the ground were eaten by rabbits, and now, they've discovered the ones they had missed. I need to get the little fence material I got at a garage sale up around them.  I actually have some of it next to the fence, but need to do the rest of it.

Larry got some snail, also called corkscrew vines one year, and ever since, has gotten 3 or more of them every year.  He loves them, and I don't mind them.  The problem is that the lows need to be around 60 or else they don't do well.  Some years, they get a disease and don't do well no matter what the temps are.  When they do well, they are quite pretty.  I told him to just get 2 this year, but he got 3.  I put 2 in this pot, and one is in a hanging container.  This is the one in the back yard, with 2 plants in a pot.  These are the first blooms, so I don't know yet if this will be a good year for them.  They had to spend a lot of time in the house before it was warm enough to be outside this spring. 

The love lies bleeding has grown tall enough for the flowers to drape over the leaf burner dealy instead of growing inside it.  I got this hibiscus deadheaded yesterday. 

Well, each week there is always something different going on at Tootsie Time.  Go check it out, and find out what else is blooming in others' gardens.

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Critters

It's been a busy week.  I spent a couple mornings going to the Special Olympics National Games, since they were in our city.  I don't think they got any national news coverage, though.  It seems like the networks cover fewer and fewer stories, and run some they have into the ground.  CNN was blaming the news people "on the right" and the Department of Agriculture for not getting all the facts before airing or making a judgement, but CNN was reporting Ms. Sherrod's comments out of context before they found out they were.  They are just as guilty as anyone for the problems that ensued for her.  (I don't think I've ever vented on this kind of thing, so please bear with me.  I could go on about some complaints I have about the news networks, but won't.  Yet, I do watch some news every day.)

Anyway, I took my camera the second day of the Special Olympics, but remembered the batteries were low, so left it in the car.  When I returned, I saw a butterfly on some bushes, and remembered my camera.  There was enough power left to take a few photos of what I believe is a question mark butterfly.  I think it was Iowa Gardening Woman who showed one last week.  I'm not sure what kinds of bushes these are, but there are a lot of them around the parking lot.

I found some more photos from the week for Misty Dawn's Camera Critters.  The link is in the sidebar.

I don't often get photos of monarchs with their wings open.  It took lots of tries to get this one.

When I opened the front door to check the mail a few days ago, this squirrel was eating perched on the hook.  I took a few photos from the closed screen door, then opened it and took some.

The squirrel wasn't aware of my presence yet, here.  I'll write a little commentary of what the squirrel may have been thinking.  I wonder what it really was thinking.

"Oh, it's you again!"

"OK, I'll look cute for you while I get another bite."

"OK, you've taken a bunch of photos, don't you have anything else to do?"

"Oh, good here comes another squirrel for you to pester."

"Have you noticed I've been eating across the street more, and not in your garden?"  (Yeah, well I don't trust that you'll stay away for long.)

The grackles have been singing from high places.  This one was there for awhile calling out with a loud voice.

I had the previous photos loaded and waiting for me to write about, but went outside to do a little gardening before the arrival of our grandson.  Well, look what caught my eye, and sent me in to get my camera!  It was so big, I thought it might be a giant swallowtail, but after referring to a book, those are darker colored.  This appears to be a male Eastern swallowtail.  I got lots of poses of it.

I found a different kind of wasp on the short toothed mountain mint.  I can't remember if I've seen this kind or not, but this is the first one I've seen this year.

This isn't the clearest photo of the other black wasp we have, but I like to show more than one insect near each other on plants.  Is that a lightning bug?

I took lots of photos because the wasps were moving around a lot.  I kind of like this one, even though it was a total accident that I captured this angle.

As I was taking the above photos, I heard neighbor dogs barking and looked up.  Heidi is such a good girl most of the time.  She was very calm, but looking at something in the street.  Can you guess what it was?

Look at that silly squirrel!  It seemed like it wanted her to chase it.

It ran into the yard across the street, and looked to see if Heidi was looking at it, and then, looked to see if I was.  Do squirrels crave attention?

Heidi must have decided she's not as interested in squirrels as she used to be.  She stayed in her spot and continued to watch the world.

As we were about to go in, I saw a grackle getting a drink in the bird bath.  I took a quick photo as the water was going down, then it turned and flew away.

I hope your weekend is going well, and your encounters with critters are good ones.

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