I was in Massachusetts and Connecticut this past week taking my kids to college.  When I got back to Texas, I found out a lightning bolt struck a transformer in the field my trees grow in and started a fire.

It has been extremely dry here for several years and we are currently (for about 3 years) been under a burn ban.  Fortunately, the field has been dry enough to where the brush is not so dense.  The fire burned itself out after burning only about 200 square feet  Currently, I have a 5-6' diameter mulch ring around my trees.  I'm thinking about expanding that a bit.

~james

Glad your trees didn't get hurt! I used to not worry much about lightning, till about 12 years ago when my kids were out in the front yard, playing in the rain, and it struck a palm tree at the end of the driveway. Major attitude adjustment for all of us. Then, a couple of years ago, lightning struck a saguaro about 30 feet north of the house and blew it (the saguaro) into pieces. Yikes!