good news
cool caterpillar, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.
lamentables suggested Googling the problem with my camera (which I should have thought of, but I plead full brain on account of camp prep), and I found a Nikon forum which had several suggestions. The one that worked was to "smack the back of the camera moderately" with the camera pointed down. I turned it on, and the lens extended and retracted. OMG, yay. I took it out for a test run, and it appears to be working just fine. *whew*
Thanks also to grrlfriday (a.k.a. my cousin Deanna) for offering to lend me hers for camp. And thanks to all of you who commiserated with me on my loss.
I walked down to CVS, where I found zinc-based spray-on sunscreen (the cheap store brand, even), a floppy straw hat (cheap *and* on sale), and a notebook that's small enough to fit into my little bag but big enough to comfortably write in. They were completely out of any kind of insect repellent, but I'm not too worried. Somebody will have some if I don't find any before I go. I know it's noxious, but I am apparently especially tasty to skeeters, so I can't do without it.
I've also made arrangements for a ride out to camp and back. Yay.
The only problem I'm still having is with the stupid shoes. The ones I bought rub my feet raw in a couple of places, and that just will not do. Fortunately, there's a Payless here in town so I don't have to go back to the maul. I guess I'm going to have to make do with my old, split, beat up sandals. I will probably go barefoot whenever I can. If only they'd had those Skechers in my size... story of my life. I briefly considered going back and paying the $50 for them at DSW, but I just can't justify that (nor can I face going back to the maul). *sigh*
Oh well. At least my camera works. Which, yay! That's very good. :)