I rescued Betsy from this garter snake — or maybe I rescued the garter snake from Betsy. Anyway, it was under the sink in the craft house. I got it into a net and let it go out the gate before the dogs got too interested.

It looks like the Valley subspecies of the common garter snake. If you look closely you can see the red blotches along both sides, just above the lateral stripes, that distinguish this snake.

http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/pages/t.s.fitchi.html