thanks, Darks - looks fully automated, not a deliberate attack stemming from current activity.
it might be that other computers infected with the trojan mine *was* infected with in June tried to ping what was once part of the trojan's network
fortunately, I have some hefty, daily-updated, multilayer AVWare. Not saying what they are... one of the best defenses is not letting the other guy know what defenses he must penetrate.