Branching out

This branch on one of our maple trees lost its leaves before all the others. It's covered in lichens, but so is the rest of the tree. Mystery? Or just one of nature's little quirks?

The aqua-blue color on the branches is lichens. I've read that they're essentially harmless.

I've reached the point in my life where I'm tired of cleaning up fallen leaves. The lawnmower mulches them, but I've finished with mowing for the season. The last few years, I've been leaving the leaves on the ground over winter. They mostly mulch themselves and what's left get pulverized when I start mowing again in the spring. I've learned the hard way not to leave the leaves (haha) in the driveway over winter. They're a mess to pick up after they've semi-mulched themselves into our gravel driveway. I'll pick some dry weather days to blow them onto the north forty. We got a leaf blower last year thanks to a nice store credit that came with a sale when we bought our riding mower.