Tottie,
As far as watering goes, it kind of depends (I hate that answer, but there it is). Some "mini cats" are species or primary hybrids. These can be more demanding in their care, and they don't all want quite the same things. For instance, Sophronitis coccinea likes to be cool, wants to be watered daily, but dry every night. Cattleya luteola never wants to be soggy, and needs to be in a very chunky mix (but watered very frequently). C. aclandiae needs to be warm and in chunky mix or mounted. I'm sure Aceetobe would have some great recommendations for rupicolous Laelias. All that said, if it were me getting started with minicats, I would start with more complex hybrids. They have been bred with ease of growth and blooming in mind. Most will bloom more than once a year and a group of them can be treated pretty uniformly. Here are a few very specific recommendations, blending small size, ease of growth and bloom, and flower quality:
Slc. Newberry Luisa's Love - These have excellent parentage for vigor, ease of bloom and frequent blooming. In the interest of full disclosure, I made and registered one of the parents (Slc. Precious Katie) some years ago. They were good growers and bloomers.
Slc Newberry Luisa's Love: Carter and Holmes Orchids
Slc. Dream Catcher - I've seen some pics of these here on the Orchid Board and have bloomed several myself. They're wonderful and tiny. Good growers, too.
H&R Nurseries
Slc. Mini Apricot Good growers, good bloomers, small plants with big flowers. High quality overall.
Sunset Valley Orchids - Grower and hybridizer of quality orchids, Vista CA
Also Pot. Pure Love and Slc. Mini Beau on the same page:
Sunset Valley Orchids - Grower and hybridizer of quality orchids, Vista CA
Pot. Gene Crocker - A little larger (10-12" plant). These are 12-18 months from blooming, but have excellent promise for quality.
Potinara Gene Crocker *LIMIT ONE*: Carter and Holmes Orchids
And, of course, I would heartily second Izzie's recommendations. That Sc. Cherry Bee is really cool! I would specifically avoid: Cattleya luteola, Soph. cernua, Soph. coccinea, C. aclandiae, Rupicolous laelia species, and Sc. Beaufort when you are starting out. Hybrids from these can be wonderful, and many of those hybrids are great growers, but these specific plants can be a little tricky to learn and can be a source of great frustration.
I'm not sure what the "skewer" method is, but I'll bet it's similar to what I would suggest. The idea is to water the day before the plant becomes absolutely dry. With practice and observation, you'll be able to do this by the weight of the pot if you are growing in plastic. However, until you get the feel of doing it, you can insert a clean dry toothpick into one of the drain holes of the pot and leave it in place for about 10 seconds. If it is darkened when you pull it out, the pot still has water in it. If not, it is dry. The trick is to water it the day before it is going to get dry. You can get the feel for this pretty quickly. As a general rule of thumb, I pot minicats in the smallest pot which will comfortably hold all of the live roots. In my own growing space (a too-warm greenhouse), I want to water every other day, so I pot them very dry - small clay pots with enlarged drain holes, big chunks of styrofoam and New Zealand sphagnum moss. If I were growing in the house, I'd be using a fine bark mix and plastic pots.
That happened last night! I was on yesterday and that wasn't there! suhweet!
So excited they're coming here in October.
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