Awesome. I think that was it. This board has a 3.3V switching power supply running the micro. I also have a 4.7V zener on the power supply output because I have seen some pretty wicked spikes at startup. I set the pickit3 to power the micro at 4.625V, with the main power disconnected and....
Programming...
Programming/Verify complete

Thanks for your help.. and happy easter!.. I know I will be much happier not having to worry about this anymore!