This is the biggest garter snake I've seen so far

Garter snake

I’ve been hearing rustling in the juniper bed out front, and figured we had chipmunks and voles and everything else under there. The crabapple(?) tree has been dropping pea-sized fruit all over the sidewalk and into the junipers, and the squirrels and birds have been having a field day so I’m sure the ground-level critters are too.

A little bit ago I went to let the dog out, opened the door and there was a foot or so of garter snake coming out of the junipers. I shooed the dog back in, grabbed the camera, and it was already over on the other side. It froze when I leaned over it.

Garter snake closer

Soon as I pulled the camera back from this shot it unfroze and whipped under the bushes in an eyeblink. I never did see the whole length of it, but I measured the spot where I took the picture above, and that was about 22” of it just in the picture.