Some of the schematics show the 16F87X as being programmable through the
serial port without other support circuitry than a level shifter.  The spec
sheet seems to say you have to load 6-bit command words and then 14-bit data
words with stop and start bits.  Do these 16F87X's have boot loaders already
installed?  What am I missing?

I am new to PICs as you can probably tell.

Ted