Okay, feel free to have a chuckle at my expense...I deserve it.

After suffering with horrendous ragweed allergy for the first time in years, I finally got around to installing a cabin air filter in the '05, my current ride. I followed the instructions carefully and it went well.....almost.

Before I reinstalled the covers over the air filter I figured I would clean all the dust and dirt off them. I gave them a good wipedown and since I already had the cleaning cloth in my hand I figured I would wipe down the area around the covers under the hood. As I did so I knocked the 4 plastic covers off the spot I placed them - on top of a bracket near the ABS module. I was able to find one but the other three were nowhere to be seen - not on the ground, not on the plastic shield under the motor, nowhere. I used a mirror, a flashlight, crawled under and felt around etc. I killed an hour or so looking. It's raining today anyway so I was just killing the day but this was ridiculous.

I had given up and was going to do without. I checked the air in the tires and had to add a couple pounds when I had a brainstorm. I put the blower attachment on the air hose, put in under the hood and let it go at about 90 psi. Don't know where they were hiding but out they came. Landed right on the garage floor.

Other than that mess, the job would have taken less than 20 minutes and that included wasting 5 talking to a door to door magazine salesgirl "just trying to earn college credits".

We'll see if the filter helps the allergy situation any......