steve wrote:Most of the new surge protectors have inlet and outlet for phone and cable connections
Unfortunately, those only protect things INSIDE the house. Most of our damage was done on the OUTSIDE of the house, and the damage to the PC and answering machine simply resulted from that. Repairmen from the cable and phone company had to replace burnt-out wiring that was on the outside of the house.
No surge protector can protect the outside of your house, and that's why I was asking about something for the outside. We were lucky in that only our wiring was damaged; the MH could have taken a direct hit on the roof, for instance, and that's what we're trying to avoid. When I lived in Arizona (where lightning was almost a daily occurrence during late summer), homes were often hit by lightning, which took out entire sections of the roof or walls. We don't want that to happen to our beloved MH.
I happened to find this site, which not only sells lightning protection equipment, but also explains why it's necessary.
http://www.lightningrod.com/manual4_why.html
I hope that clarifies what I was looking for. I'll have to ask them if this sort of thing can be put on a MH. Looks as if it can, but I always like to ask lots of questions before I shell out the cash.
Thanks for your input, everyone!