health of president george h.w. bush. his family issuing a statement on his condition a short time ago. and they put it off for months. law i can makers holding our future in their hands and now barely enough time to strike a deal to save us from one of the highest tax hikes in u.s. history. senators and staffers now behind closed doors. we are told they are trying to put together a plan to help us from all going over the fiscal cliff. we are within 72 hours of the deadline, and tonight the new developments. in the wake of the shooting at sandy hook elementary, gun sales are on the rise. what is driving the spike? and the growing number of teachers who are looking to arm themselves. also, one man s trash becomes a child s musical treasure. you ll meet the children s orchestra that plays instruments recycled from
reporter: unlike most of us this woman only takes the trash to the curb a handful times a year. i d say six to eight a year. reporter: marilyn recycles nearly everything. i m the crazy lady. reporter: in fact she built her two-bedroom ranch home with recycled products like straw insulation. cork floorboards and items that she pick said up at the dump, auctions and secondhand stores. marilyn also lives off the grid and gets all of her electricity through this solar panel. she also burns paper, reuses plastic bags and composts. and that s one less thing that goes in the trash. i just want to have a small impact on the earth as much as i can so i can enjoy it. reporter: but this year marilyn took her green routine to another level. she started to precycle. it s a lifestyle that once you adapt to it it s like, wow, why wasn t i doing this sooner. reporter: the precycle slogan is, think before you buy. we re not saying that you can t buy anything ever again but think b
do you really need it, is the first question. reporter: if you do, marilyn says the next precycle principle is to choose items that come in recycled packaging. buying in bulk is always better, if you can. if you re going to buy a whole bunch of yogurt get one in bulk. take what you need for lunch that day, that type of thing. reporter: and finally, try to use the stuff you buy for more than one purpose. check this out, she found this light fixture. it was going to be thrown away. instead she turned it into a decoration and it s now a candle holder. sometimes there are other uses for it and keep using it. reporter: one man s trash is really marilyn s treasure. i like marilyn. i like that philosophy. i know that you think that i m a nerd. no, no. you re doing your part. i think that s wonderful. there you see, more people recycle you won t have do that on the weekends. look at that. you look good. like the village people. that s a hot recycled mess. we ll be right b
agencies have been brought in to help on the ground and in the air. for a second time, crews from the national park service, the forest service and the bureau of land management joined local crews fighting the fires that have burned over 1 million acres across west texas. at possum kingdom lake, west of ft. worth, a massive fire that started friday has burned 150,000 acres and destroyed around 100 homes. this is my house up in here. i mean that doesn t look like anything is left here. no, nothing left there. we didn t get anything out of there. we got our what we have on except we bought stuff at walmart. we ve been out there 15 years and this is 40 years of marriage of our personal stuff. reporter: as the fires spread to neighboring counties hundreds of people living there and inmates in a county jail were evacuated. the wildfires have already claimed two lives this month. a firefighter died wednesday, 11 days after he was critically injured battling a fire near amarillo. sa
what have you lost? i lost everything. everything is ruined. reporter: you worried? yeah. but i m going to be okay. we going to be okay. reporter: like they say, one man s trash is another treasure s. this man gets $135 a ton from a scrap dealer. what are the things you carry away most? refranlg ray or the, washers, driers, water heaters. heaviest stuff. here in the living room. reporter: ronnie coleman lost everything and gained something. i keep stopping and thinking and think, i m alive. you know? everything else, rest of my life, if i have to fight cancer or whatever, i mean, it is going to be a piece of cake to what i went through. reporter: i watched with sherry hath away as a city truckloaded her stuff for the dump. is that your life going away? yes. sure is. children s lives. our lives.