So I came back from about a week of vacation, and here is what I found:

-- One of my Phals that had been in bud is now in bloom.
-- Another Phal that has never been sequential before (one of my white No
IDs that I have had the longest) has decided to continue creating buds on a
spike that I thought it would be done with by now).
-- Before leaving I noticed that another one of my Phals was either in spike
or in root, but couldn't yet tell which, after returning I was glad to
discover that it is definitely in spike.
-- My paph malipoense bud looks noticeably more open than before (but it has
still a long ways to go, so it may still turn out to be 6 months spiking
total as predicted, since it's been in spike 4 months thus far).
-- Two of my orchids toppled while I was gone (one is in long spike and the
other in bloom, and they had dried out a bit too much and thus the top was a
bit too heavy), but neither spike was harmed.
-- A Phal that I feared might break my record of no orchid kills since it
had only two very sad looking leaves and very few roots, has been busily
forming new roots and now has started a new leaf.
-- The Phal that had toppled earlier this year and broke its spike is now
way on its way to growing a branch off of the broken spike (I love this
habit of Phals to regrow a broken spike, giving one a second chance).

And these are just the most exciting developments. It's amazing how much can
happen in a week, and since all the developments were positive, I am
guessing that my orchids didn't mind one bit that I was gone.

Joanna