Thank you, Elaine. I appreciate your thoughts and expertise. Humidity is definitely a problem. The bathroom is a possibility if we were there all the time. Unfortunately we travel back and forth and usually I'm away from NM for at least a week or two. I'd have to set up lights and a watering system in there.
The greenhouse is set up to do everything automatically. We have no swamp cooler. It's just a small 15 foot dome. We did set up a mister system, but our well water is too hard and after having it mist just a few times, my plants all had a white coating on them. Really ugly! I don't use the mister now. We got a filter for it, but it didn't solve the problem.
It sounds like orchids may not be practical. You mentioned Cattleyas and I remember seeing them living outdoors when we lived in the Marshall Islands. They seemed to always be in bloom, and very happy. Of course, the humidity there was very high all the time.
