Thanks for this direction, there is def a glitch in my process somewhere. I threw the good board in and got exactly what you described.
2021-08-08 01:41:47 board.c:36:jump_and_app_check_restore_pic: chain[1] PIC jump to app
2021-08-08 01:41:49 board.c:40:jump_and_app_check_restore_pic: Check chain[1] PIC fw version=0xb9
2021-08-08 01:41:49 thread.c:778:create_pic_heart_beat_thread: create thread
Attached are images to my last attempt to transfer the hex in MPLAB and an image of the memory settings because I get that error "MPLAB's memory is blank so no programming operation was attempted" if I don't use "manual" in the drop down. I'm not sure if this issue is connected in some way and in addition, I'm not sure you can check firmware version after programming in MPLAB IPE v5.50?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pd8JRH6U_2JPRQd4PuFxN3By9CP-sjYQ/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1S542Y1p1xquG3lYRuWTmwRbKHQABMvJt/view?usp=sharingTo be sure it couldn't be anything else, I triple-checked all solder pads at and around the PIC location and checked all capacitors with a MM. Things seem to check out on that front.
This is humbling but I'm grateful for the help.