It's funny that you got hit with lightning too. We had a strike on the power pole across the street. Watched the pole burn for about 2 mins. How long was yours out?

Well, the street lights just started working right today, around noon.

Funny thing, under better light I can't tell where the tree was struck, and I'm starting to think it wasn't; it was just close enough to the bolt to get singed. I mean, there was a crowd of people standing in my front yard all "wow" and junk, but the tree isn't split and it wasn't on fire. A bunch of bark got blown off, though, in a cone around the thing, and most of the small branches are now dead, so it was definitely very close.

My dreams of finding a fulgurite live on...

when i was younger growing up on our farm in IL we had a tree that was very similarly struck down by our pond. it did crack open the tree a bit, but very little burning/singeing. but the best part was the dozen or so tiny frogs that were sitting at the base of the tree when the bolt struck. tiny fried, crispy black frogs everywhere.