Just to circle back on this - my initial concern is no longer present. My rewards have trended upward of an average of .22 ltc per "reward interval" -( not always 24h?).
 I'm still confident in Litecoinpool, and I'm glad to see my rig is still running within normal ranges.
 The 3 day dip (that became a 5 day dip) that prompted me to post originally has passed. I'll give it a few month of operation on this pool to get a better idea of the highs and lows before I worry again, as the MH/s rate has "evened" out too, no longer claiming "0" for long stretches with bursts near 1000 MH/s.