What to do with days off

We all get too few of them. I admit to getting more than most. But seriously, do the majority of people prefer using days off for couch-sitting rather than doing things they enjoy or even just getting out of the house?

My dog Gracie and I prefer getting out and doing things together. At the top of her list: going to the dog park. At the top of my list: long walks through unfamiliar trails with her and my cell phone camera. We have some overlap there. Truthfully, she gets more out of the long walks, but the dog park is good for her dog-dog social skills. She needs that. Her dog-human social skills get honed best at Petsmart or through serendipitous encounters, like at Thanksgiving yesterday.

So number one on my list is probably number two on hers, but she's pretty gracious about letting me take the lead in choosing our activities. Heck, she doesn't even mind just going for car rides with me to run errands. She likes doing that, although not as much as the park or walking.

Sitting around the house...that wears on both of us, although I don't know who gets stir-crazy worse. I think, her, but I have more ways of expressing it.

Now, other people in our family view going out to the park, walking, and errand running as no different from going to work.

Did the world just go pear-shaped and weird for you too? Did it? DID IT?

Because that's how I feel when it is suggested to me that a day off is only a real day off if it's spent on the couch from dawn until dusk, without only interruptions for pee-breaks and to acquire food. That's right. It's a dichotomy. Either couch or work. No other states exist. No, not even sleep, because you need sleep in order work (not to live or feel good ... FYI).

I understand not wanting to rush from one activity to another. Frantic pace, not so much me. Full life? Most def! But I cannot understand believing that the only activity suitable for a day off is couch sitting. Especially not in nice terrific weather. Especially not when other activities are handily available, cheap, and ... just there. You know?

I would rather grocery shop or go to the post office than couch-sit during daylight hours. At night? Sure, the couch is a great place to end the day, not spend the day.

To each their own, right? But still, can't we at least agree that going for a long walk through nice scenery with a beloved pet is not the same as being on the job? That doing something with her (and me...ahem) is better than that?