Thanks Zackey, I feel blessed, as I said, I love these little beauties! As far as the orchids go, it looks as if I have a couple of catts, a couple of dendobrium, 3 phals ( 1 just lost it's blooms, the other 2 are about ready to bloom), and a big beautiful Brassavola that was in bloom all through the holidays. It looks to me as if she broke several of them up into smaller pots. Some are in desperate need of repotting in a good orchid mix but the phals are in surprisingly good condition, considering she has them in potting soil. I don't know anything about orchids but I'm learning (at least trying to). Here is a shot of the phals about to bloom. I may need advice regarding these as well..

I want to say those are mine, but I can't remember !!! Got a picture ? Cheryl

I thought the same as Gill and Rina, I was going to side with aphids instead of mealybugs but I have never been able to find out how a mealybug in larvae/young stage looks like. I know how they look like larger sized (little armored prehistoric bug) which these don't look like. But I also think they might not be aphids (holy cow i had them recently on a cilantro and almost died of disgust- i was traumatized for a week) because these look small, and aphids are kinda bigger than the ones in your pic and they like to stand in a row all together on a leaf/stem and wave their antennas in sync. Not kidding you. My last suggestion was baby thrips...or baby mealybugs if anyone can confirm. rina's question about the environment/soil is really important because if moist- then probably aphids. not really sure about mealybugs, i think usually dry-ish? thrips- moist enviro. All just from my own limited experience. For mealybugs: you could use a cotton stick with alcohol and dab them away, and do it until you dont see anymore. Or spray with mix of alchol and water (50% 50%) Remember to not drown/rot your succulent with too much liquid if you do spray, cover with a plastic wrap or just spray judiciously. Also if your succulent is the type with a nice powder coating (im sorry i keep forgetting the correct name for it), then spraying takes it away. I think this one is the shiny type so no worries.

Thi Que, I think that's salts / solids accreted from watering with the water you have. Maybe as a result of watering from the top.