Flickr user erin_m noticed the new fencing and signs up around the U.S. Capitol, 118 days before the 2009 inauguration. Indeed, Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) is scheduled to ceremoniously hammer the first stake into the inaugural platform today, the first step in a four-month construction project. Feinstein heads the Senate’s inaugural panel.

Every four years, the District gets turned upside down by plans for the presidential inauguration. Construction has already begun to repair sidewalks and repave Pennsylvania Ave. Hotel rooms were already booked back in January of this year. The start of construction on the inaugural platform at the Capitol today is just one more reminder of the flurry of activity that awaits our city between Nov. 4 and Jan. 20.