When
It seems that the flashing console lights are an indication of a bad battery. It would be ever so much better if this were documented somewhere that I could find in the owner's manual. I suspect that several other Ford products may have this entertaining failure mode, so any of my friends who see this should be advised.
After turning the rental car back in, we headed off to Fry's where much shopping was accomplished -- by Mike. I bought a $5 flash card reader in the hope that it might help me get the pictures off the Nikon. And then we finally proceeded off to Duckon.