I’m a retired senior citizen with an inquiring mind and way too much time on my hands.

In this post: New features, great TV, weenie jackets.

Hey. Has anybody noticed a couple of exciting new Howdygram features in our right sidebar? For instance: 1) TRENDING NOW offers our top five most-read posts during the last seven days; and 2) FAVORITE READS is a list of my preferred topical blogs and news websites. I read nearly all of these on a daily basis because I’m a retired senior citizen with an inquiring mind and way too much time on my hands. Thank you.

Big news for outer space freaks! Neil deGrasse Tyson — astrophysicist, author and director of the Hayden Planetarium — is hosting an all-new version of “Cosmos,” Carl Sagan’s smash hit PBS science series from the early 1980s based on his bestselling book. The new and improved “Cosmos” premiers Sunday night on Fox, promising higher-quality special effects and computer animation than the original. Sam and I plan to watch but already know it won’t be the same without Carl, who died in 1996. Seriously, people, just look at that face. He was the most adorable thing on television. Oy.

For dinner tonight I’m planning a mentally ill yet somewhat-healthy version of Chicago-style hot dogs! This includes: 1) three teeny cans of warm Vienna sausages sprinkled with celery salt; 2) yellow mustard; 3) sugar-free relish; 4) several hot sport peppers; and 5) narrow strips of low-carb white bread, which I’ll use to enrobe each weenie like a little jacket. By the time I finish all this damn sausage-wrapping hoo-hah I’ll probably be too tired to eat, but I guess that’s the whole point. I might take pictures.

Thank you for reading this.