As I once again struggle to lug the normal variety of summer home project supplies, I am more convinced than ever that the manufacturers of said products are missing the mark...and a lucrative market.

Manufacturers are still living in the day of the tradiitional American family -- husband, wife, and 2.whatever children living in a split-level in the suburbs. Husband did the heavy work. Wife stayed home and cooked. Kids ran around being kids.

That picture may have been true 50 years ago. Today, a lot of homes are owned by single women who not only need to handle home maintenance and renovation projects, but want to. And they do these things after spending the day in uncomfortable shoes and pantyhose at a very stressful job.

We may be powerful, confident, efficient people, but we are not Amazons. We need women-sized supplies.

We cannot lift and carry 60 lb. bags of concrete and sand and mulch. We can probably handle 30 lb. bags, but those are not to be found on the shelves of stores.

I am convinced that many women stay married just so they have someone around to carry heavy stuff. If you guys ever stop carrying heavy stuff, your days of matrimony could be numbered.

So, in addition to all the single women, countless numbers of women could be saved from unhappy marriages if manufacturers would just realize their products would sell to a whole new market if they made them smaller, and lighter...and maybe a little less dirty.

We also need equipment that is more female-friendly. For instance, my pool filter requires untold levels of brute force to take it apart for cleaning and then put it back together. I have literally put my entire body weight on this thing, and the top still won't go back on. I have hit it with things that probably should never touch a pool filter. Inevitably, it takes an hour to clean and reassemble the filter, during which time I end up soaking wet and Arthur is exposed to language unfit for his delicate canine ears. I understand the need for a tight seal, but in a world in which we have things that suck the air out of clothes storage bags, does it really have to be this hard?

It may be time for women to take over the home improvement industry.