(Strip Number, Original Publication Date, 4 March 1989)
Panel 1: We start things off with Mike and Random Neighourhood Boy (is that you, Darryl?) having a snowball fight near the garbage bin.
Panel 2: Since Mike has the same blind spot Elly does and probably assumes that Farley is where he last saw him, he doesn't notice that he's created a dog-sized problem for himself when he takes the trash out of the bin to use it as a defensive position.
Panel 3: There's an awkward moment as Farley eyes the garbage because he doesn't know if Mike is going to notice him. Since Mike is stupid enough to play in a dumpster, I don't think ol'Farl's got much to worry about.
Panel 4: It would seem that Mike only noticed what Farley did too damned late. This is because he's nowhere to be found when John looks in horror at the results of his inattention. He's going to delay that lecture about being irresponsible and wasting everyone's time as long as possible.
Summary: As we've seen here, the whole point of this arc seems to have been to howl "WE MOMS NEVER GET ANYTHING DONE BECAUSE CHILDREN HAAAAAATE US AND WANT TO MAKE WORK FOR US!!!" That being said, I'm glad that we have "Mike being a thoughtless idiot" and "Mike being a garbage person" in the same strip. This will make
howtheduck's job of chronicling his being a mincing little non-entity who imputes the worst possible motives to a girl who simply wanted a nice Valentine no matter what THE GUYS might have said so much easier.